14200/A Cat of a Different Purrsuasion

A Cat of a Different Purrsuasion
Date of Scene:	20 February 2023
Location:	Queensland Park
Synopsis:	While working on some plans for an anniversary, Kian and Gar come across a feline completely new to them: Catseye.
Cast of Characters:	Sharon Smith, Kian, Gar Logan

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Sharon Smith has posed:
    In the distance, sat an old lady on a park bench.  Usually old ladies were associated with blue hair, but this one had bright purple hair, and usually old ladies were a bit more wrinkled, but this young looking old lady at least had on the 'uniform' of an old lady: flat brown shoes, a terribly faded sweater, the style of jeans that sat so high on her waist they might help keep her ears warm.
    It was only a fleeting image, as the woman melted, almost in an instant, into a pile of old lady clothes.  A small lump in the mess of clothing shimmied through like a horror movie, but rather than a frightening alien, what surfaced was a small black cat.  The cat was on a mission, scampering hastily up the nearest tree to frighten off a nest of what were once very fat, comfortable pigeons, which flapped away at incredible speed (for fat pigeons).

Kian has posed:
    The winds between the buildings—the 'glass canyons' as Kían prefers to call them—never fail to delight the alien birdman, and at least once a week he avails himself of the exercise they afford.  Many times he's accompanied by a green Akiár, or a green peregrine, or a green flying squirrel, or a green… you get the idea.  Sometimes all of them and more, serially.
    Such excursions, accompanied or not, usually end at a park to catch his breath before heading back to the tower.  Today is no exception, and today he happens to be accompanied.  Queensland Park is the nearest this time, and it has the advantage of being near several food places that Kían likes (or in Gar's case, several food places period).
    The unusual thing that catches his attention is the burst of pigeons abandoning a tree, which pigeons normally won't do unless spooked.  He points, for the benefit of his flying companion (regardless of his current shape) as they spiral downward.  "Did you see that?  I wonder what startled them," he muses sympathetically.  Pigeons may not be the sharpest knives in the avian drawer, but they're still birds.

Gar Logan has posed:
    Today it's a sparrow, small and, yes, green.  This one can even make use of Kian's hair or elsewhere for a perch, an easier way of riding along in spots.  It doesn't take the place of actual flight, but it's still fun.
    Down below, a pile of clothes by the bench, then the pigeons departing the tree.  And, something else in it.  "One guess, and it's a three-letter word that begins with a C, ends with a T, and has an A in the middle.  And no, not that one."
    Gar flits free to descend at his own pace, eyes alert.

Sharon Smith has posed:
    The black cat looked incredibly disappointed at her failure to catch pigeons… if cats could 'look disappointed'.  It stood upon a long tree branch, staring off sadly at the flight of fat birds, pacing briefly before glancing back down to where she came from.  She waited on her perch, seeming mystified as to how to descend back down, and playing the role of 'cat stuck in a tree'.
    This particular cat might have been one that devoured an old lady whole, considering the pile of old lady clothes scattered over the park bench below.  Such an unhealthy diet might explain why the cat had trouble descending high places.

Kian has posed:
    "Terry is better behaved than that—"  There's a set of words not often uttered together.  "—but then, he's hardly normal by cat standards."  Really, Kían could have ended that sentence without the last three words.
    He spirals down lazily, doing a slow loop of the tree and not really seeing anything out of the ordinary… until he spies the pile of clothes on the ground.  Not being au courant on fashion, at least not on this planet, he can't really identify them as 'old lady' clothes, just as 'clothes'.  "I haven't seen anyone running around skyclad, have you?" he asks the green sparrow.  "And isn't it a bit cold out for that anyway?"

Gar Logan has posed:
    The green sparrow scoffs, "Are you sure about that?"  His way down is more direct, the clothing noted before he wings back around closer to the alien Akiar. 
    "From the look of those, I'm glad I haven't.  But you never know with some people.  There are a lot of things that could, uh, cause that."  Gar finally gets near enough to the ground to turn back to normal, leaving an adult male in a red and white costume, hands at his hips as he looks around.
    The tree is passed over, but not too directly just yet.

Sharon Smith has posed:
    How was it so much easier to climb up trees than to climb down?  The black cat made her way to the wide trunk of the Arbor Day-sponsored maple, but waited precariously on the branch rather than dive right down.  Part of her hesitation might have been the costumed figure not far away, but the other obvious factor was gravity.  Still, she was staring more at the oddly dressed green man more than she was at the ground beneath, weighing her options.

Kian has posed:
    "Maybe it wasn't a cat, maybe the person who used to be in these clothes went up the tree those birds came out of.  That certainly could have startled them just as easily as a cat."  Ever-logical Kían.  He has not touched down on the ground yet, and with a casual flick of his wings, he drifts into a slow, lazy circle around the tree, peering into it as best he can.  He's not really sure if he's expecting a cat or a naked Earther at this point, and the tree would have to be an evergreen so it's not leafless.  That figures somehow—it can never be the easy way, can it?

Gar Logan has posed:
    Gar Logan peers upward.  "I got an idea.  Well, it might not be a great idea, but we'll see in a second."
    The idea in question?  Another morphing of his body.  After sparrow to Beast Boy, now it's Beast Boy to tiger, and a very authentic-looking one at that.  Black stripes and everything.  Only, what should be orange is green.
    "Would it be too meta if I said 'Heeeerreee kitty kitty?'  If we are in fact talking about a cat."  Speaking of, said cat is talking.  What strange wonder is this?

Sharon Smith has posed:
    Gravity be damned.  The 'cat' was interested.  It leapt from the tree, landing with a heavy thud as it increased in size almost ten-fold, becoming something reminiscent of a panther, or some other big, black cat not featured on Netflix.
    She neared close enough to the green tiger king to swipe a paw at him.  It would have been a threatening gesture if her claws were drawn, but all that came down was a soft, fluffy paw toward his nose.  It was a rude gesture, but at least it wasn't a violent one.

Kian has posed:
    The noise from the birdman is probably wholly predictable: "Kya!"  Kían very much does not land, not with an unknown large cat on the ground.
    "Wait, did it just pet your nose?"
    After another pause, "And how was there a cat that large in the tree that we couldn't see it?
    One more pause, then, "I'm very confused."

Gar Logan has posed:
    The scent trail leads to the tree, which leads to the tiger looking up toward it, which leads to a hop back as a similarly-sized panther type of feline comes down to land within proximity to bat across his nose.  "Hey!  Not nice!"  He draws back a big paw of his own to return the 'gesture,' keeping the claws sheathed upon realizing hers weren't out.
    "I think we found our pigeon hunter," he adds, more for Kian's benefit.  "Now are you gonna be a nice kitty or do I have to bat you more?"  Quite the conversationalist, for a tiGar.

Sharon Smith has posed:
    Sharon Smith reeled back from the swipe of a green paw.  The black panther swiped several times at the air, a look of playful interest in her eyes before suddenly darting off in an impromptu game of chase.  It was a 'game' because the large, black furred feline chose to stop at a distance and turn back, making sure she was actually being chased, rather than try her best to make a daring escape.

Kian has posed:
    Kían stays overhead, (hopefully) out of reach of a pounce from the strange big cat.  "Escaped from the Metropolis Zoo, do you think?" he asks.  "Or maybe an exotic pet?  It doesn't seem to be hostile…."

Gar Logan has posed:
    Tiger eyes narrow.  Gar knows 'play' when he sees it.  In fact, a lot of his deal is 'play.'  "Oh, is that how it is?" he asks, tail flicking behind him as his body language takes on something similar prior to him bounding toward the other big cat.
    "I think it's gonna be fine, but you might want to keep your distance.  I don't know how high she can jump if she decides you look tasty," he warns, giving Kian a glance in the midst of the 'pursuit.'

Sharon Smith has posed:
    The big, black cat zoomed off at impressive speed.  She did a lot of unnecessary turns and pauses to keep the chase going.  At some point, she rolled dramatically onto her back and sat up to decree in an eerie, humanesque voice to Gar, "You're gGreen."  She hadn't mastered the particular art of perfectly morphing her vocal chords, or speaking through pointy teeth, but she could generally speak in an intelligible tone.
    She seemed fairly tame at the end of the ridiculous game of chase.  The green tiger didn't seem out to kill her, and she wasn't ignorant about the open conversation he was having with the out of reach Kian.

Kian has posed:
    Well, that brought Kían to a halt, or at least a hover.  No, he hasn't landed yet.  "Uh, did you hear that too, or has Earth finally driven me completely out of my mind?  I mean, I'm used to you talking, but not other cats.  Uh, other than Terry.
    He flits around so he can face the panther, although of course he remains in the air.  "He is.  Many people have noticed that.  And you can talk."
    And now all he can do is look to Gar for clarification.

Gar Logan has posed:
    Even this causes the tiger to pull up short, ears pricked forward and attentive, tail held just so to indicate sharp focus, curiosity, and interest.  "You noticed," he begins, eyes shifting from feline to Akiar and back again.
    "And you can talk, too?  I don't remember anyone else who could also talk like me this way."  His words are well-formed, even with a tiger's anatomy behind it, and he turns back to the human form she'd seen from him previously.  "So… who are you?  I'm Beast Boy, of the Titans.  And this is Kian, also a Titan.  Are you all right?"

Sharon Smith has posed:
    Sharon Smith paced briefly as Gar shifted back to human form.  She seemed to be considering her options.  Her mess of clothes were still in a mess on the park bench, and she didn't have many forms to choose from.  "Shaaarooon," the panther said in its oddly distorted voice.  She shifted into an odd human/feline hybrid in almost the same breath to correct.  "Catseye."
    Her new form had fur, which was a little less scandalous and hypothermia inducing than a naked human.  "Of coarse I can talk," she stated with little consideration to being caught as a cat in a tree.

Kian has posed:
    For lack of anything else sensible to do, Kían's politeness takes over, and he bows slightly in mid-hover.  Yes, that's possible.  "Uh, kié.  Like Gar said, I'm Kían.  Do you prefer Sharon or Catseye?"
    He loses a little altitude, but still doesn't touch down, ready to flit out of the way if necessary.  "And are those your clothes over there by the bench, or do we still need to be looking for someone?"

Gar Logan has posed:
    A humanoid form that combines both feline and human?  Interesting.  Not the first time Gar's heard of or seen such a thing, but always a unique thing when it comes up.  "Sharon, or Catseye.  Is that like your codename?  I'm Gar, but Beast Boy is my codename.  And Kian's codename is Birdbrain."
    He might be grinning just a little too much right now.
    The Akiar's question about the clothing serves for now, and he approaches with a hand out.  It could be taken for a shake, a greeting, or seen as some other type of gesture.  "Is there anything you need help with?"

Sharon Smith has posed:
    Sharon Smith tilted her head to ponder an answer before deciding.  "Catseye.  Sharon is not my name," she stubbornly claimed, despite having just introduced herself as 'Shaaaroon' in a creepy, feline voice.  "Gar and Birdbrain," she parroted.  She glanced briefly behind her, as though the extended hand were pointing at something rather than offering a handshake.  She glanced back to the pair with a flicker of excitement in her eyes.  "Keep looking!" she encouraged.  The hybrid cat woman was gone in almost the blink of an eye.  The only thing left of her was a little black cat that was hastily dashing away.

Kian has posed:
    Kían looks absolutely scandalized at Gar.  "It is not!"
    And if he looked scandalized before, he looks absolutely horrified when Catseye uses the name too, before darting off.
    The departing black cat just might hear the sound of a large wing connecting with the back of Gar's head….

Gar Logan has posed:
    "Oh, it's not?  Wait.  I must have mixed you up with another… oof!"  Gar can't quite miss that whap, and if anyone's being honest it's earned.
    In all that, he only just catches the fact the smaller black cat is racing off to parts unknown, his hand lowering by the time she's gone.  "Well, uh, so much for finding out where she's living," he muses, rubbing the back of his head.  In thought, of course.  Not because it was just wing-smacked.
    "At least we got a name, whichever one she uses more.  We might have to keep an eye on the news, just in case."  He's looking toward Kian, trying to hide some of that mischief that is often his way.  "But you had some other things you needed to do before we got back, right?"

Kian has posed:
    "Yes, mainly making sure Giorgio's is available after Terry gets back," Kían comments, curling a wing around Gar's shoulders by way of making up for the earned wing-whap.  "I'd've told Téri'chal that she's taking him away at an inconvenient time… but I couldn't imagine telling her that and coming out of the encounter intact.  So we'll have my Earth-day celebration a little late."
    He favors Gar with a lopsided smile, and leans in closer.  "Funny how I think of coming to this world as something worth celebrating now."

Gar Logan has posed:
    Gar Logan remarks, "I'm pretty sure we've got a standing invitation with them to rent the whole place out whenever we need to."  Everyone knows how much Gar alone can put away, pizza or otherwise.  He leans closer as he looks back toward the tree and the direction Catseye ran off in, just in case she's coming back around to play-stalk, then he moves along.
    "You know how his mom is.  I wouldn't get in the way of that either.  We can still do something quiet, then have a bigger party later.  And this is pretty much your home now.  I know you can go back, but you chose to stay here," he explains.

Kian has posed:
    Kían nods.  "For two very good reasons, neither one of whom are orders from the Viceroy," he says with a definite smile.  "I suppose I'll have to get to her instructions sooner or later, but not this week.  Ooo!  And we need to go to that chocolatier on the island, for my after-party treat!" he adds, having set the matter of Catseye on a back burner in his mind.  "And I still have a couple bottles of dad's brandy…."