complete and utter crack
Jul. 19th, 2011 02:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysobelThe fifth time Charles used Cerebro, the session ended rather abruptly when he turned into a cat.
There was a startled yowl from the platform, and a mental //what the hell--// and then all there was was a blue-eyed marmalade tabby, legs akimbo and claws spread and fur puffed up in alarm.
"Well," Erik said dryly. "I stand corrected, Charles: you aren't a lab rat after all."
Raven's hands flew to her mouth; it was hard to tell how much was shock and horror, and how much was amusement.
Hank, hands flying over the controls to Cerebro to shut it down, was babbling apologies -- "no idea what happened, really, it shouldn't have, there's nothing to indicate--"
The cat gave a sharp "mau!", and everyone promptly shut up.
//The last set of coordinates, did they come through?//
"Y-yes," Hank said, and double-checked. "They did."
//Find her.// The cat tilted his head slightly, looking up at Erik. //But first, I think I need food.//
"Of course you do," Erik murmured, and scooped the cat up in his arms. There was a brief mrrp of protest at first, but then Charles snuggled against him, tail waving in lazy pleasure as he started to purr.
#
The kid they bring in -- and she is a kid, gives her age as fifteen but looks more like she's ten -- is terrified of them. She's used to hiding from authorities, and from her perspective this is the epitome of Authority.
She is also some sort of animal metamorph, flickering between forms in a desperate attempt to escape: cat (mangy and thin, with matted fur and a torn ear), bird (starling of some sort, drab and brown and fluttering in panic), snake, mouse, rabbit, ferret--
Erik just sits and watches, holding Charles on his lap, and waits for her to settle down. She seems to be limited in how small she can go -- there are no beetles in her repertoire, no gnats, nothing that could actually stand a chance of getting out of the room -- and Erik is willing to be patient.
Charles is less so: there is a low-level purr vibrating through him as Erik pets him, head to haunch over and over, but he doesn't take his eyes off the girl, and he is tense, claws digging through Erik's trousers, tail twitching. Erik's strokes are as much restraint as pleasure, keeping him where he can't do any harm.
Finally Erik speaks -- "Enough," he says firmly, to both of them, and the girl shifts back to human form, panting with exhaustion and fear, and Charles' claws flex.
//I was in your mind earlier,// Charles sends without preamble. It's meant for the girl, but he lets Erik listen in. //Do you remember that?//
She nods jerkily, puppetlike.
"Normally," Erik says, "this is where we would tell you that you aren't alone and there are others like you and all that. But I suspect you know that -- and we have a more important issue."
//You changed me,// Charles says, and she looks wide-eyed at the cat, like she's registering his presence for the first time. //Don't worry, no one is angry at you--//
Speak for yourself, Erik thinks, but with a touch of amusement.
//--but I'd rather like to be human again. Do you think you can do that?//
The girl cringes. "I'm sorry, I didn't know," she says, her voice reedy with panic, "I just felt something and -- and lashed out, I don't even know what I did --"
//It's all right,// Charles says soothingly. //We can help you. Train you.// He gives Erik a narrow-eyed look: //I didn't tell you to stop,// he adds, and Erik gives a huff of laughter as he realizes he's stopped petting. But instead of resuming the long full-body strokes, he switches to scratching lightly under Charles' chin, and he tilts his head back and closes his eyes in bliss. //Yes, there, don't stop, don't stop ever.//
(and yes I know there's a tense switch in there but this is just a fic snippet anyway, and I don't think I'm going to be going anywhere with it.)
There was a startled yowl from the platform, and a mental //what the hell--// and then all there was was a blue-eyed marmalade tabby, legs akimbo and claws spread and fur puffed up in alarm.
"Well," Erik said dryly. "I stand corrected, Charles: you aren't a lab rat after all."
Raven's hands flew to her mouth; it was hard to tell how much was shock and horror, and how much was amusement.
Hank, hands flying over the controls to Cerebro to shut it down, was babbling apologies -- "no idea what happened, really, it shouldn't have, there's nothing to indicate--"
The cat gave a sharp "mau!", and everyone promptly shut up.
//The last set of coordinates, did they come through?//
"Y-yes," Hank said, and double-checked. "They did."
//Find her.// The cat tilted his head slightly, looking up at Erik. //But first, I think I need food.//
"Of course you do," Erik murmured, and scooped the cat up in his arms. There was a brief mrrp of protest at first, but then Charles snuggled against him, tail waving in lazy pleasure as he started to purr.
#
The kid they bring in -- and she is a kid, gives her age as fifteen but looks more like she's ten -- is terrified of them. She's used to hiding from authorities, and from her perspective this is the epitome of Authority.
She is also some sort of animal metamorph, flickering between forms in a desperate attempt to escape: cat (mangy and thin, with matted fur and a torn ear), bird (starling of some sort, drab and brown and fluttering in panic), snake, mouse, rabbit, ferret--
Erik just sits and watches, holding Charles on his lap, and waits for her to settle down. She seems to be limited in how small she can go -- there are no beetles in her repertoire, no gnats, nothing that could actually stand a chance of getting out of the room -- and Erik is willing to be patient.
Charles is less so: there is a low-level purr vibrating through him as Erik pets him, head to haunch over and over, but he doesn't take his eyes off the girl, and he is tense, claws digging through Erik's trousers, tail twitching. Erik's strokes are as much restraint as pleasure, keeping him where he can't do any harm.
Finally Erik speaks -- "Enough," he says firmly, to both of them, and the girl shifts back to human form, panting with exhaustion and fear, and Charles' claws flex.
//I was in your mind earlier,// Charles sends without preamble. It's meant for the girl, but he lets Erik listen in. //Do you remember that?//
She nods jerkily, puppetlike.
"Normally," Erik says, "this is where we would tell you that you aren't alone and there are others like you and all that. But I suspect you know that -- and we have a more important issue."
//You changed me,// Charles says, and she looks wide-eyed at the cat, like she's registering his presence for the first time. //Don't worry, no one is angry at you--//
Speak for yourself, Erik thinks, but with a touch of amusement.
//--but I'd rather like to be human again. Do you think you can do that?//
The girl cringes. "I'm sorry, I didn't know," she says, her voice reedy with panic, "I just felt something and -- and lashed out, I don't even know what I did --"
//It's all right,// Charles says soothingly. //We can help you. Train you.// He gives Erik a narrow-eyed look: //I didn't tell you to stop,// he adds, and Erik gives a huff of laughter as he realizes he's stopped petting. But instead of resuming the long full-body strokes, he switches to scratching lightly under Charles' chin, and he tilts his head back and closes his eyes in bliss. //Yes, there, don't stop, don't stop ever.//
(and yes I know there's a tense switch in there but this is just a fic snippet anyway, and I don't think I'm going to be going anywhere with it.)