13668/Hell's Kittens

Hell's Kittens
Date of Scene:	28 December 2022
Location:	BPRD HQ
Synopsis:	Phoebe helps one of Red's cats. Hellboy learns some about Phoebe.
Cast of Characters:	Hellboy, Phoebe Beacon

---

Hellboy has posed:
    The text MIGHT come as a surprise to Phoebe, given how they parted last time. Hellboy has been giving her her space, but now? Now, there was a cat in need, and Phoebe was a likely candidate to help. At least, that's what the text said.

FEEBEE! <BPRD HQ address in NJ> CAT NEED!

    So, you know, about normal for a cambion man in his 70's who acts like a teenager trying to text a girl he thinks is cute about a cat.
    The outside of the building is fairly boring cinderblock construction. It looks...functional. If it were bigger, it could pass for a prison building. The interior, meanwhile--once Phoebe gets past all the security what-not, signs the NDA's, and has to deal with a two-guard escort down an elevator--is rich, stained woods, musty tomes, leather high-back chairs, and more than a few little oddities. There's a gigantic acquarium with a fish-man inside. He looks out and cocks his head, looking at Phoebe with big, black, curious eyes. There's a library the prince in Beauty and the Beast would be envious of...at least the live-action version. Finally, though, they travel down a relatively dark hallway to a big, heavy, metal door.
    The door hangs open. Inside is a mess. It's like someone had flipped the room looking for something. There's also a LOT of evidence of cats. In addition to cat hair all over, there's dry cat food scattered around feeding bowls that are heaped up with more.
    Sounds of an angle-grinder can be heard inside. One of the guards stops Phoebe and says, "Don't stare at his horns." He then opens the door a little wider and gestures that she should go in.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    There was a cat in need; duty has called and Phoebe comes to answer it. She had texted back <Be There ASAP> -- and it was a jaunt from Gotham. She had shown her state-issued ID (her real one, that identified her mailing address as PO in Bristol Township, right outside of Gotham. When she arrived, her short hair was in neat rows, braided carefully and pinned on itself to make sure the helmet wouldn't give her weird hair. She was sans makeup, wearing a black-and-orange motorcycle jacket with lining in it against the cold, and her normal 'business boots' -- the nearly knee-high laceup boots that wouldn't be out of place in a Steampunk convention.

    She was, apparently, expected, and even had to open her backpack to show her college homework and some 'working tools' -- along with her medical bag. Just in case.

    AS she was lead in, it was hard to think that the BPRD wouldn't be able to handle the situation -- they seem well, well provisioned.

    In the aquarium area, Phoebe peers back at the fish-man, and then gives a smile and a friendly wave to him, mouthing 'Hello!' to him.

    The library definitely gets her attention. Bitch gets book envy, and she very nearly gravitates towards it -- but business first. There's a cat that needs help.

    "... why would I stare at the horns?" Phoebe asks the guard, and then she goes into the room guarded by the Big HEavy Door, and...

    Ah yes. Cats and angle grinders and the smell of burning brimstone and keratin from the grinder working at the horns.

    "Hey Red." Phoebe greets easily, taking off her motorcycle jacket. Her T-shirt just reads MAGIC AF.

Hellboy has posed:
    Red lowers the angle grinder. He's in a tee-shirt and baggy shorts, his hoof-feet things out to be seen. "Hey, Phoebs," he says. He tosses the angle grinder into a pile of dirty clothes in the stainless steel sink. He looks at Phoebe's shirt maybe a couple seconds too long to just be reading it as he walks across the room.
    Turning to aim himself at a sleeping area, bed absolutely as much a train wreck as the rest of the room, he moves to a kitty on a cat bed.
    He is like a father with a baby with that cat. Scooping it up with his left hand, he makes a Right Arm-Bed of Doom for the cat to lay on. "Here she is," he says to the cat, ever so gently. Petting the cat, he walks it over to where Phobe is. One of the cat's eyes is solid black, though the cat doesn't seem particularly bothered by it. The grumpy-cat face of the white long-hair looks her over like she's late feeding the thing, though it's obviously well-fed.
    "Rescued this one from a coven in upstate New York," Red says. "Vet can't see into the eye to check it. It's not a glass eye. Abe says there's a dark mark on her soul or something. I don't know. I figured you could help."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe thought maybe there was a sick cat, or Red was particularly worried about one of his pets. This was something different.

    This was something that piqued her interest, and she feels her eyebrows draw up as she focuses in on the cat, her head tilting a moment as she looks around, and she clears some clothes and food bowls out of the way to sit down on the floor, holding up her arms to take the cat to examine it.

    "Hello there, precious thing." Phoebe greets the cat quietly, if the cat is given over to her she settles the cat neatly in her lap, sitting criss-cross to provide a comfortable bed.

T"Have I met Abe?" she questions quietly, reaching into her bag for a box of chalk pieces and sharpies.

Hellboy has posed:
    Of course Red hands over the cat. He sits across from Phoebe, taking a little more effort to get down, but his knees touch hers as he sits with her. He also gently pets the cat. He's clearly worried about her.
    "You passed him," Red says. "Big tank on the way in. Keeps the door open. Likes to people watch."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I'll have to meet him proper-like if he can pick up on the dark mark on her soul." Phoebe replies quietly, looking up to Red, easily dwarfed by his form as she breathes out. She brings the marker to her lips, and bites at the cap to pull it off as she begins writing in Latin and enscribing arcane symbols on her arm.

    "If I cast it's not going to crash off any wards that I can't feel, is it? Did that once at The House and ended up fifteen feet back from where I started with an eyebrow singed." Phoebe gives a wry smile, the college student turning over to Hellboy.

    "I don't wanna startle the cat, but if I unbind my power it's going to probably set alarms off." her nose wrinkles a moment, "... and it might tingle."

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy looks up at her, very close to her by necessity. He looks like a kindergartener someone asked a calculus problem to. "I'unno," he confesses, bluntly. "What would those look like?" he says, clearly wanting to do something to help, even if he didn't understand what needed done, like a 1950's husband when his wife went into labor.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe looks up at Hellboy, and then takes a deep breath, and she shrugs her shoulder "Might sound like shaking out Tinkerbell for pixie dust normally, but when my magic hits against someplace it's not supposed to be, like being hit with a really, *really* resonant frying pan." she explains quietly, and then whispers out, petting the cat to keep it calm.

    Phoebe recaps the inkpen, and then sets it to the side, her knees brushing against Hellboy's. She relaxes her shoulders, settling herself, laying her right hand down and scritching on the white cat's chin.

    "Ostende mihi praeteritum tenebrosum oculum huius, et praebe mihi scientiam ad corrigendam maculam huius animae." she whispers, asking for the past of this cat's darkened eye.

    She unbinds her own power, the circle around her left wrist glowing briefly before fading, and Phoebe's aura, unbound, begins to fill the area with Light. She herself has lines tracing along her veins in glowing rose-gold.

Hellboy has posed:
    A red light goes on as soon as the words are out of Phoebe's mouth. There's no ward, but there is apparently divination. Red, meanwhile, rolls his eyes as claxxons sound. "Hang on," he says, rocking back on his hips. "Let me take care of this." He moves to the door and exits the room right as the cat's eye's past comes to Phoebe.

A long time ago,
Longer now than it seems,
Sat a coven of witches
With power-filled dreams.

The witches were awful
And nasty and mean!
Their spells, they were vile!
So bad, they turned green!

The magic they used was not
Fit for consumption,
But with all of the ladies
Combination of gumption,

They forced evil dark powers
Onto this mortal plane,
And nature was twisted
And shattered with pain.

A fragment of magic
Resides in this eye.
It shows her the truth,
And the cat can't ask why.

    As fae words weaved into rhyme the magical explanation, visuals of animal sacrifices and witches drinking blood and painting themselves with occult shapes, dancing naked in the moonlight and calling out to evil powers formed in Phoebe's mind's eye. It was a terrible vision of death and mistreatment of animals and perversion, all in the name of power.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "-- Don't be long --" Phoebe begins, breathing out as the light turns red around them. The klaxons are distant to her, her mind seeing the trees, third person as she watches the torture, her heart drawing up into her throat. She tenses, her fingers curling gently into the fur of the feline in her lap. Her eyes narrow, looking at the vision around her.

    "You poor thing, this isn't your fault." Phoebe whispers gently to the cat, curling her body a little protectively around it. She draws her fingers through the fur delicately, and then up to the feline's head. "Let's give this a try, hmm?" she asks, and then she begins to whisper, her unbound aura surrounding them. ANy other felines in the room might have their interest piqued -- after all, Cats remember that they were worshipped as Gods in Ancient Egypt, and occasionally they understand.

    She's carefully opening the 'valve' of her power, to wash away the stain on the poor cat's soul and spirit. She can't change what happened, but she can correct the grevious insult to its being.

Hellboy has posed:
    The cats all take interest. They get up and trot over, looking at the scene of Phobe and this cat she holds. The cat blinks at her. As power flows through it, its hair softly glows.
    "Mew," the cat demurely meows as she makes eye-contact with Phoebe. The cat blinks a few times as the blackness is purged from its soul, the eye clearing like it was washed clean. Soon, it's back to normal (and not glowing).
    As if on cue, the alarms turn off. A few moments later, the cats hear distant movement and scatter. Hellboy enters the room. "I'm back," he says. He takes the time to get back down close to Phoebe, his knees touching hers. "Okay," he says. He's about to tell Phoebe to do her thing when the cat looks at him and mews again. Hellboy says nothing. He simply has an expression of joy on his face. Leaning down, he nuzzles the cat's forehead and pets it, even with the Right Hand of Doom. He's surprisingly proficient and gentle with that thing.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe gives a smile, looking around at all the cats as they take interest in the goings-on (as curious cats tend to do), and she scritches on the white cat in her lap a little bit with a soft 'That's better, isn't it?' whispered to the feline.

    And With their knees touching, the cat has the opportunity to be taken up by Hellboy, and Phoebe breathes out, wipes her right hand over her left wrist, and then just tilts over slightly, backwards, and then THUMP.

    "Cool. Imma need a minute." she breathes out. "Intense vision. That's not usual. Hooboy."

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy doesn't manage to catch Phoebe, but when the cat departs, as cats are wont to do, he reaches out and scoops the girl up. Picking her up, he holds her just as carefully as he did the cat. "Hey, you're safe here. I will protect you." He stands while holding her, pushing the door closed with his foot to keep the cats from escaping (again). Sitting on his bed, he just holds her like a father holding a child. "Tell me what you need," he says quietly to her.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe was OK not being caught, it was a short distance, she knew the way. The cat departs, and then Phoebe is picked up. She registers the movement, the woods and sacrifices leaving her vision and replaced by Hellboy's room in the BPRD. She's being held. She stiffens a moment, her shoulders squaring a moment as she swallows, one hand rising up, moving slowly off her side, and for the briefest of moments there's the tracing of her magic circle there -- but it fades as quickly.

    "Just... need a minute. Maybe something interacted weird with the divination? IT's not my strong suite... I pushed a little too much into it... is the cat okay?" she asks, turning her face up to Hellboy.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy nods at her needing a minute. He's not holding her down, but there's physical contact, and he knows she's not a huge fan of that. However, he's doing his best to be as gentle as he can. If she has trauma from physical touch, he's not going to add to it. "She's fine," he says. "Whatever you did worked."
    He moves slightly to support her a bit better. He's clearly shifting a bit from being uncomfortable. The reason why comes with his next words. "I'm sorry I got frustrated before," he says. "You were just being so hard on yourself. I like you. I respect you. I want others, you too, to respect you, too."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "... that's kind of a common theme with me." Phoebe reflects quietly as she looks around, cradled against HEllboy.

    Not the weirdest situation she's been in, but definitely the weirdest in the last few weeks.

    "I'm not someone who should be respected, Red." Phoebe quietly replies, "I'm just some kid who happened to win the magic lottery thanks to, y'know, murder." she adds, but she doesn't move to get out of his grasp. "And I respect myself. You have to respect the dangerous things."

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy sighs at Phoebe's words. He does keep himself from sliding down that same slope he went down at the restaurant, though. Calmly, he says, "You're pretty." He makes intense eye contact with her as he walks her through some qualities. "You're smart. You're smarter than me, for sure. You're good with cats." He stands, turning to set her down on his bed. It's lumpy because it's a mess, but it's surprisingly comfortable. At least now she can relax, though he's not leaving her side. "You put up with my sign language accent," he says, indicating his Right Hand of Doom by raising it and wiggling the three rectangular fingers thereon. "You're not bad because you're dangerous. Everybody is dangerous. I'm a demon," He points out. He stands next to his bed. "If you're going to let anybody like you--" he concludes. He spreads his arms. "--the totem pole doesn't go much lower than me." He lets his arms fall to his side.
    His rant now over, he starts looking around. "Now," he says. He finds a chair and moves a bunch of clothes off it to move it next to the bed. He kicks up his hooves and crosses them near to, but not touching, Phoebe's. "I'm gonna keep you safe, and you're going to sit there and not correct me for liking you."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I'm a dumbass, because if I was smart, I wouldn't be playing with demons. I'd be at home, studying for my Ethics final, and forget everything about Magic, the supernatural, and being a super hero." Phoebe counters brusquely, and she wraps her arms around herself.

    "Everyone's concerned with keeping me safe. It was just a bad vision. A waking nightmare. I'm fine, it upset my stomach before touching black magic like that has a psychosomatic effect and I just... just needed a minute to get my bearings, Red. I don't need protection. I have The Batman constantly over my shoulder for that making sure I don't screw up so badly that it can't be fixed." she explains, and then she purses her lips, her expression going a bit flat.

    "You know the important figures are actually at the bottom of a totem pole, right?" she asks, "the supports, the foundations."

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy pffts. "Pfft. The Batman," he scoffs. However, as she explains about totem poles, he looks off into space as if trying to wrap his head around it. "Yeah, but--" He stops. Eventually, he just shakes his head. "Fine," he says. "I'm super important. You could be a little nicer, though. Pretend you actually need protection for once. Let me be a man and guard the door while you lounge in my bed and get covered with cat fur." He shakes his head. "Stop pushing away the people who care about you," he insists.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Don't you 'pfft the Batman'. Batman showed up when I was at my lowest, surviving on stale coffee and Angelic Will and convinced me to not set myself on literal celestial fire in order to transcend my humanity and try to take the friggin' Host on as one of them." Phoebe states as she reaches to brush some cat fur off her foot.

    "He might have only taken me in to protect Red Robin from my bullshit, but if I were to hit the panic button, he would be inside this room within fifteen minutes."

    "And pretend I need protection? While you be a man and guard the door? What... what on *Earth* would make you think that's what I want, Red?" she questions, and then spreads her arms out.

    "I don't push away people who care about me, Red. But I do keep them at arm's length because sometimes they do Dumb Things like sound like a line from a Pick Up Artist book." she states, and then her expression changes. HEr eyes narrow a moment, her brows knitting, and her lips form a flat line.

    "... oh." she whispers, and then a soft 'OH'.

    "... you have a crush on me."

Hellboy has posed:
    To those not in the know, The Batman is something of a mythic figure, wrapped in rumor and intrigue. Hellboy wasn't immune to that. When Phoebe says what she does about Batman somehow being inside the most secure room in the most secure government building he knows about inside of fifteen minutes, he looks around like he's checking for ghosts.
    However, the next part frustrates him again, but he doesn't get a word in edgeways as she works things out for herself. He looks away as she speaks it out loud. "Hmph," he says. The teenage mindset came out a bit. Yeah, nail right on the head, there.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe brings her hands down, and rests them in her lap. She taps her fingers against her thighs a moment.

    Batman isn't as mythic once you've seen him fall asleep on a couch int he family room in his underarmor T-shirt holding half a sandwich. Even less so when you have to tell one of the household pets to *not* steal Batman's sandwich.

    Still Intimidating As Heck though.

    She breathes out, and then.

    "... the cat really did need help though, right? This wasn't all just to get me here?"

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy looks back at Phoebe and hesitates a bit before shrugging. "Yeah," he admits. "I didn't know who to call." He rubs his thighs a bit and looks at his hooves. "Thanks," he finally says. His cats are important to him, and he does know manners, no matter how gruff he may or may not be, sometimes.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Good, because otherwise I would be really, really mad. I /am/ glad I was able to help. You can call me for help any time., for help, to talk, maybe hit up a movie sometime." Phoebe replies, and she wrings her fingers a moment. She looks over to Red, and then looks up at the ceiling.

    "Red. When /you/ care about something, you put your whole, big heart and every ounce of your body behind it, obviously you love your cats. You love your job, you love protecting people even if it means some bumps and bruises come out of it." she states, wiggling her fingers to try and call one of the cats over to her, trying to entice it with scritches.

    "I am... a work in progress. I wasn't kidding when I said Batman found me at my lowest point. He's still trying to work with me to find a new 'equalization' after Everything That Happened in New York last year, including losing two men who I thought loved me. And sometimes that means that I'm going to be down on myself, because I want to live up to my own expectations, I want to be the best me I can be -- for my found family, for my city, for all my friends. Including you." she states, and she looks over at him. "With me so far?"

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy has much to say, but it feels like Phoebe has more she wants to get off her chest. He simply nods. Leaning over, he scoops a cat off the floor. The feline mews meekly in protest, but looks only confused at Red when he deposits it on the soft bed next to Phoebe. It is if it is saying, 'yes, I protested, but that doesn't mean don't pet me!' If only one could speak cat.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "What I'm saying is... if you're going to get angry any time the pendelum swings into the lows, maybe you have to be patient for me to grow up a little and work through my own issues. BUt that doesn't mean we can't be friends, if that's okay?" she asks Hellboy, looking at the cat that's being scooped up. Phoebe scoops the cat up again, and then deposits it in her lap, scritching gently.

Hellboy has posed:
    The cat mews again, as if it's upset to be handled this way, but also simultaneously lays in Phoebe's lap and allows the pets. Hellboy, meanwhile, tightens his jaw. He gets up and moves next to her on the big bed. There's room enough for both of them there.
    "Hey," Red says. He doesn't really have much to add to what she had to say, but he does have his own thing. "Maybe...don't get so mad at me for caring so hard, huh?" he tries. He folds his hands as best he can over his stomach. Crossing his hooves and tapping one against the air, he looks awkwardly around the room. Finally, he looks back at her. "You want pizza? I can get us some pizza."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I never got mad about you caring about me. Even if I question the *why*. ANd that is definitely a Phoebe-side problem by the way." Phoebe comments to the demon, "Not a Red-side problem."

    She scritches on the cat, right under the chin, then behind the ears.

    "Sometimes just the actions made me uncomfortable. I'm working on communicating my own needs before it hits that point," she gives a rueful smile "Which is so, so much harder when you're used to being the doormat."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Also, I would murder a pizza. Can... can Abe eat pizza? I have so many questions."