17864/Time Machine!

Time Machine!
Date of Scene:	07 May 2024
Location:	Alleyways - Mutant Town
Synopsis:	Catseye fails to build a time machine, but... free ice cream? That's still a win!
Cast of Characters:	Sharon Smith, Miguel O'Hara

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Sharon Smith has posed:
Miguel must have been losing his mind. Sitting in an alley with a talking cat. At least he thinks it could talk. Maybe the conversation was all in his head. The cat hadn't spoken in some time...

Time was the issue. When a talking cat offers to build you a time machine in exchange for some chicken nunggets, it's worth taking the gamble! Saddly, this particular exchange didn't seem to be panning out in his favor. The cat had produced a card-board box, but she hadn't progressed much past that stage of her time machine development. Although... her cardboard box technically managed to travel through time, but not at any direction or speed different than anything else.

Oh well. At least she had soft fur. She was remarkably clean for a stray, and looked quite happy laying there as he pet her.

Miguel O'Hara has posed:
Sitting in an alley on an empty crate, Miguel realizes he had absolutely no idea what to expect when a talking cat offered him a time machine. A part of him thinks he may still be asleep and this is just a lucid dream. The absurdity of the situation strikes him and forces a genuine laugh out of him. Probably the first laugh he's had in a long time.

    "Not quite what I had in mind, but it is definitely a time machine," he says through a grin. In between him and the talking cat is a large order of chicken nuggets. He reaches down and grabs one and munches on half of it while he stares at the box. He digs around in his jumper's pockets for a few sauce packets that he picked up, "You're welcome to any of these if you like 'em," he says as he places them on the ground next to the box of nuggets. Barbecue, sweet 'n sour, honey mustard, and a spicy sauce. He glances down at the cat and gives her a scratch behind her ear.

Sharon Smith has posed:
Sharon Smith stood up and stretched. She was starting to cue in on the fact her ruse was not going to last much longer. Sharon didn't have any actual expertese on building time machines. Even if she did, it would be hard to build one with paws. Her tail might come in handy at some point, but once again, she had no technical expertese in time travel. Still, she had to do something to keep this agreement going.

The little black cat stared at him for a long few moments. It almost seemed like it would speak to him once again, but instead, it just sort of... sat there, tilting its head as he told her about sauces. He was definitely losing his mind!

Miguel O'Hara has posed:
At this point he's just rolling with it, completely open to the possibility that the act of being thrust into the past has broken him mentally. If there is evidence that he is broken, that evidence being a talking cat who makes false promises in the name of food is not the worst thing he could imagine.

    "If you need any help with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, just meow three times," he says before popping the rest of the nugget into his mouth. A tilt of the head is clear indication of intent. He reaches down and rips open all of the sauce packets so she can choose to dip into whichever one she prefers.

    "I'll get you an ice cream if you can tell me your name," he says to the little kitty before glancing down the alleyway to see a mom and her child standing at the entrance, both agape at the young man speaking to a cat. "What? I'm waiting for it to finish building my time machine." He shakes his head, exasperated that the dummies couldn't see the obvious.

Sharon Smith has posed:
There was no collar. No nametag. She seemed far too clean for a stray, but there was no real indication of who she was or where she came from. The cat did slowly open it's mouth. Finally looking like it would speak again, but instead gave a long yawn. This whole endevour was looking to be fruitless. Funny, but in no way was this solving any of Miguel's problems. At least it was a nice respite from the drudgery of shaking small time criminals down for loose change.

Casteye would finally take action. She still had to capitalize on this free food agreement while she still could! The little black cat would suddenly spring into the form of a fully grown woman with bright purple hair. She crouched down to dip one of the nuggets into a spicy dipping sauce container, plopping the morsel into her mouth to chew. "Sharon" she finally answered, taking a seat on one of the nearby dumpsters. "What do you think about cheeseburgers?" she asked keenly.

Sharon could have continued the talking cat routine, but it was admittedly hard for her to hold a conversation in anything other than human form. It wasn't that she couldn't. She simply preferred not to go through all the effort. Plus, proving she could change shapes might buy her some time. Not all time travelers were shapeshifters, but who's to say some weren't!

Ok. Perhaps Miguel wasn't losing his mind. He could have seen the purple haired girl as some sort of ghostly abberation, but taking into account he was in mutant town made it much less likely she was a hallucination.

Miguel O'Hara has posed:
Gun to his head, if Miguel had to say out loud where he was at the moment, he would just end up shot. As he picks up another nugget and goes to bite off half of it, the cat shifts into the form of a whole effing person.

His mouth hanging open, the nugget drops to the ground while his brain tries to understand what he's just seen. Maybe he actually *has* lost his mind. Recovering, or at least pretending to, he grabs the nugget from the ground and takes a bite anyway. The 5 second rule triples when you're broke and starving.

"Sharon," he repeats with a full mouth. "My name is Miguel and I love cheeseburgers," he says as if he's in some sort of meeting. He glances down at the nuggets then back at the woman, "If I get you some cheeseburgers can you maybe double the speed at which that box over there moved through time? Or at least pretend that you can?"

Sharon Smith has posed:
Sharon Smith was much less pettable in this form, but at least she could hold up a conversation. It wasn't that petting her was out of the realm of possibility, but trying to pet a full grown woman gave mostly the wrong impressions. No. Petting a small thing with black fur was much more reasonable, although it was still mildly awkward realizing that thing was a full grown woman shapeshifted into a cat, or perhaps a cat shapeshifted into a woman? This was a light "chicken or the egg" debate, but the former was far more likely.

Catseye pulled her feet up to sit cross-legged on the closed dumpster. Her lips pursed as she tried to decide an answer. "Probably not" she admitted. She didn't want to keep leading him on that there was some chance of her actually making a time machine. It was simply too cruel to lead the fellow on with false hope promises, but maybe honesty would still get her ice cream.

Miguel O'Hara has posed:
"Well at least you're honest," he says as he feigns disappointment that she could actually make a cardboard box into a time machine. His shoulders droop and his lips purse together as he sighs. "I suppose if you're hard up enough for nugs that you're willing to do this," he says and he spread his arms out to indicate the whole situation in the alley with the nuggets and sauce packets laid out for a damned cat to feast upon and the real-time time machine, "then you deserve the nugs and an ice cream. And cheeseburgers if you actually want some."

He glances over at her and offers her a smile. She seems nice enough. She could've just kept up the cat form and eaten all of the nuggets and left without a word and he would've just accepted that he was conned by an actual cat.

He extends a hand to her, "Nice meeting you, Sharon. Glad I'm not insane."

Sharon Smith has posed:
Sharon Smith smiled and shrugged. "I have my methods." she boasted. She wouldn't reveal all of her methods, but Sharon was never hard up for food. All it took was giving wide kitten eyes at some little old lady and she'd be set with all the pets and kibble she could dream of. She wasn't fat by any means, but at least he didn't see ribs poking out through her skin. She seemed in reasonably good shape. Perhaps it was due to her mutant metabolism, or maybe the low calorie diet of eating mostly cat food. How did cat calories even translate to a shapeshifting mutant? It was a confusing subject to try and wrap one's head around.

She leaned out from her perch to shake his hand. "You might still be insane, but at least it's not my doing. Well... not yet. We will see after ice cream." she joked. At least, it seemed like a joke. Sharon delivered her lines in such a serious tone that it was hard to decipher if she was ever joking or not.

Miguel O'Hara has posed:
Something about her delivery in human form resembles the perceived attitude of a cat. Like it's doing you a favor by being friendly. Or by not shredding your skin with its claws. Miguel always liked cats, though, so he appreciates the personality.

"That's a fair point and I think the jury is probably still out," he says about his own sanity. He reaches down and snatches up the remaining nuggets and the spicy sauce that Sharon has previously used and places it on her perch, then grabs one for himself and gives it a dip. "So you from around here or was I just an easy mark?" He gives her a goofy grin and pops the nugget into his mouth.

Sharon Smith has posed:
Sharon Smith gave a proud smile, lifting up her hands in a shrug. "It's one of my haunts." she parroted the familiar phrase. Catseye wasn't usually very good at coming up with colloquialisms, but this one was fun, so somehow it stuck in her head. "And you're an easy mark," she claimed with a smirk.

"I know a *really* good burger place around the corner," she boasted. "I should probably dress up though," she said, wrinkling her nose and looking down at the state of herself. "No shirt no shoes..." she explained, half quoting those signs that tended to be posted around beach front establishments. The signs weren't frequently seen in downtown Manhattan, but the policy of wearing *something* was generally universal. She could usually get away with the motif as a cat, but her human form needed more accessories than cute eyes and a collar.

Fortunately, Sharon was prepared. She drug a cardboard box out from behind the dumpster. This was also not a time machine. She bent down to sift through a mess of mismatched clothes contained. None of them were close to the same size, and there was no sense of color coodination between them. It mostly looked like a box old ladys' clothes. It was, in fact, a collection of clothes from every cat lady in a five block radius. Sharon was mildly resourceful in acquiring a collection of outfits, but none of what she collected would be featured on the cover of Vogue any time soon.

Miguel O'Hara has posed:
Making eye contact (and only eye contact) has been one of the greatest tests Miguel has faced here in the past. Aside from the whole homelessness thing. But this one was tough. Mr. Easy Mark O'Hara averts his eyes when she digs out another real-time time machine. He can almost smell the old lady coming from all of the garments inside, but he makes no comment. He simply munches on another nugget and imagines dozens of elderly women in the neighborhood thinking they've gone mad having lost a random piece of clothing.

"Sharon, do you *enjoy* ushering the elderly into a state of madness?" He fights the urge to make sure she's in a better state of dress. "Real nice evening," he says to distract himself and then grabs another nugget and stuffs it into his mouth.

Sharon Smith has posed:
Sharon Smith lifted up an obnoxious floral mumu that could fit ten of her. She could practically use it as a shelter given enough support. "What do you think?" she asked proudly. Catseye had absolutely no fashion sense. She didn't generally fret about human norms. She simply picked articles of clothing that caught her eye, with the unique ability of producing a cacophony of clothes like a cat-lady version of Iron Man.

"*I* provide a service!" she boasted. "They tell me their troubles while I get free room and board, pets, and the occasional sock." Sharon was likely the reason half of the city's population tended to lose that one sock in the dryer. She couldn't have been the only reason, but she certainly did her share of making sure it was a reality.

Miguel O'Hara has posed:
Mid-chew on his nugget, Miguel glances over at the shower-curtain-sized mumu and nods, the nugget getting lodged in his throat and causing him to start choking. He bumps his fist against his chest a few times as he manages a few coughs, forcing out a weak, "Stunning."

He manages to pull himself together and averts his gaze again. His voice is still a bit shaky after nearly inhaling an entire nugget, but he really pulls it off like he's fine and not at all flustered, "You're in better shape than I am, that's for sure." If only he could shapeshift into a spider, he could at least climb into some empty apartment and sleep in relative peace and safety. Maybe he'll find a few bad guys to knock over tonight and get some crappy hotel room. He feels like he needs a shower. Catseye has the mumu shower curtain. He just needs the actual shower.

Sharon Smith has posed:
Sharon Smith slid into the mumu which quickly slipped free of her like the oversized parachute it was designed to be. She abandoned the fallen garment and searched for something more fitting. At least the mumu made a nice carpet to sit on while she picked out an outfit.

She paused her search to grin back at Miguel "Thanks!" she chirped with genuine appreciation of the compliment. "Do you know the secret of my routine?" She left a dramatic pause in her advertizement, as though she were about to reveal sell him some grand cat-to-human diet and exercise program worthy of taking up add space on a poorly run website.

Miguel O'Hara has posed:
Picking up another nugget, Miguel looks at it, "I'm not sure I could even begin to conceptualize your routine," he says before distracting himself with another bite. He reaches down to pick up the spicy sauce and just pours some of it into his mouth. The poor attempt at a spice is almost enough of a distraction.

Sharon Smith has posed:
Sharon Smith grinned devilishly. "Probably not," she agreed, giving a single "Hah!" in an abridged evil laugh. Apparently she wasn't going to share her secret routine. It *was* secret after all. She resumed piling on a mess of old lady clothes to produce blinding mixture of patterns and colors. Most of it was floral themed, but the colors of flowers didn't match at all. Despite the odd fashion sense, she felt the need to accessorize with a hat, scarf, and fur coat that made her look like a purple haired Cruella de Vil. "Come. I'll show you the place!" she beamed, leading him back out of the alley.