Being the father of a small horde of kittens was no easy task. Cole had taken the time to learn what he needed to do to look after them; how to care for them, what to feed them, when to feed them. His small apartment wasn't exactly cat-proof. His couch was already growing little holes in the leather, so he had concluded that a scratching post of the greatest magnitude would be necessary in the near future.
He was trolling the internet for the most ridiculous builds he could pay for. His newfound fur children deserved only the best, after all, especially given how close they were to losing life.
That was when his phone rang.
No greeting. No questions of how she was doing or anything of the like as he answered the call and drew it to his ear. He didn't even wait to hear her voice to know it was actually her. He just started talking; "You should check this out; some people actually turn entire rooms into scratching post playground thingys for these little buggers."
Luxanna's hesitation came from the fact that when she'd finally picked up the phone after spending hours trying to tell herself that it was no big deal, she'd expected she'd have to explain herself.
She didn't.
"Uhm," she began, chewing on the bottom of her lip as she let out a silent breath of relief. "that actually sounds sort of nice." Then again, Luxanna's experience with exactly that was limited.
The response Cole got was enough to have him laugh lightly. Not at her, but rather with the sentiment she provided. On some level, he supposed he'd have to agree with her. It'd be some kind of dream.
"They're good, yeah. Just need something to climb on that isn't me legs." He explained with a shrug, but the statement was hardly one of ill faith. It was as if he didn't mind.
"It's not like I don't have the space for it. The room thing, y'know?" Cole rattled on, like it wasn't the first time they'd ever been on the phone together. Like it wasn't their second conversation ever; "I mean, I'm the only bloke who lives here so there's a whole spare room with nothing to do but house a mob of these fellas."
It made her smile. The familiar way he spoke to her. It went a long way to put her own mind at ease and she could feel the nervousness she'd had prior to the call ebb away by every passing second.
"Well, if you're looking to save money, you could always make something yourself." She vaguely remembered someone using string and empty toilet paper rolls.
"It seems..." she began, hesitating. "like you're actually... happy that they're there."
Small paws did wonders to drag little, almost insurmountable holes in his jeans. Sitting at his desk only provided a short stint of silence before Cole felt a set of little paws dying to climb up him and onto his lap. Fortunately, it wasn't enough to distract him from the prospect of making his own necessities.
"I'm about as handy as an armless..." He paused pointedly, then he laughed; "Well, you get the idea."
There was a pint of hesitation across the other end of the line, and Cole passed the time by running his index finger beneath the chin of the bravest kitten who managed a spot on the chair with him. "It depends on how you class happy, I guess. I like the company, sure. They might not be able to talk but they got their own way of keeping me from being lonely, y'know?" He asked, shrugging his shoulders like she could see it. Or feel it; "I talk to them. Is that weird?"
Post by Luxanna Cross on Nov 10, 2016 22:32:03 GMT
"Well," she began, pursing her lips as she shifted. "It shouldn't be too hard. Nothing a few tutorials can't fix," she added then with a simple shrug. After all, how hard could it possibly be to tie some string around some empty rolls of toilet paper? Or a stick, for that matter.
Smiling, Luxanna nodded - though, realized he couldn't see that. "Yeah, I know what you mean." She could surely see the appeal. If she didn't live in the dorm at the school, she would have taken them herself. Issuing a soft chuckle, the brunette smiled to herself. "No," she began. "You're personifying them, which I think is fairly normal," she continued, as if feeling the need to make him feel better, though she doubted he needed that. She couldn't help it.
"I mean, people talk to dogs all the time, so talking to a cat wouldn't be much different." Besides, if he really felt lonely, it only made her feel better about him taking the cats in the first place.
"They do a good job personifying themselves. You should see my couch." Cole replied with a small laugh. Though most would find little scratch marks highly irritating, he didn't seem phased by it. Nor was he surprised, honestly.
"Never had a pet before, either." Cole admitted idly, and he genuinely wondered if that made a difference to his behaviour now. He wasn't entirely sure how that would work, but then he allowed himself something of a pause to consider it all the same. Perhaps it was all Google, or perhaps instincts truly came into play when any other life was involved.
That felt too deep to say, though. Didn't it?
"What about you, miss?" He asked then, "Any pets from your past?"
Post by Luxanna Cross on Nov 17, 2016 12:27:57 GMT
At that, Luxanna laughed. She couldn't quite help it. The image was far too adorable. Though, she did know a thing or two about the damage a pair of claws could do.
His other statement surprised her. After all, he seemed so confident the last time she'd met him, though, she also realized it wasn't as if she'd really offered him much choice. She pushed down the growing feeling of guilt and pursed her lips.
"No," she said, hesitating. "My mom's allergic and my brother used to be really scared of animals as a kid, so there was never really a good time to bring it up." She shrugged at that. At the time, she hadn't liked the idea, but now she didn't really think it mattered anymore.
Though, with her power, she wasn't sure if that counted.
For what Cole understood, pets were a kind of normality in most homes. His home had never been something one would consider normal, he knew, but he doubted that was something he should have said to her in this exact moment. Let her ease into the proverbial crazy if she managed to make it beyond this little point.
"Mum always said pets were expensive, but I didn't get that. Not until now, anyway." He explained, "Adulthood, I mean, I guess. Living on my own and stuff."
Which was exactly why he could manage a box of kittens when most couldn't. "Do you ever feel like you missed out on something cause of that? Y'know, when it's not a choice you get a say in but it effects you anyway."
"Are they, though?" she asked, tilting her head. She supposed she could see it on some points, but really, was it more expensive than what you made it? Food and other necessities couldn't possibly cost that much, could it?
At his question, Luxanna paused. She had to consider it for a moment, though, she wasn't sure if the answer she was about to offer sufficed. "I don't know," she began, chewing on her bottom lip. "I mean, I don't exactly know what I was missing out on, you know?" So how could she possibly offer a reasonable, objective response?
"I don't think so?" Cole replied honestly, but the inflection in his voice made it clear he wasn't sure how to answer, "But then, when I was a kid spending five bucks felt like losing fifty, tight as things were."
He'd even shrugged his shoulders at the open thought given. He doubted it was something to be ashamed about, either way.
"Nah, oblivious's not a bad thing anyway. But what's the difference now? You still live with your folks?" Cole asked her naively. Of course he knew a majority of the town's citizens had come from a great many different places, but it'd be wrong to assume as much with every person he met.
Post by Luxanna Cross on Nov 24, 2016 22:05:22 GMT
"That's a fair point," she replied. She didn't have much else to say, as her experience was severely limited on this particular field. She couldn't help feeling a bit bad about it, though. "Since, you know, I sort of got you into this mess... I'd be happy to share any expenses."
"No," she began, though stopped herself. Chewing on her bottom lip, she wasn't entirely sure how to continue. "I uhm, I live at this boarding school I'm attending." She could only hope that wouldn't give her away, even though a lot of Kalispell's citizen knew about mutants, one could never be too sure about who you told.
Now she felt desperate to change the topic of conversation. "Did you give them any names?" she asked hurriedly, though realized how suspicious it likely sounded. A flush spread across her cheeks and she pressed the palm of her hand against her face.
As Cole listened, he quickly considered schools in the area. Given the mix of people, there was no way to really know who was born here and who wasn't. To him, boarding school only really meant one thing, but he'd always been told to be cautious about such an approach. Parted lips went to suggest that he'd had a similar life, but she was clever enough to veer off the topic before he got a chance.
"Not yet." He admitted idly, shrugging his shoulders at the thought. "I usually call them just off their colours." And as he glanced down at the one who made itself home on his lap, he considered his own words even further; "One of them's got spots all over his head, so I call him spots. I guess that is a name for a cat, huh."
"Spots," Luxanna repeated for effect. A smile formed on her lips then and a chuckle found its way through her parted lips. "Very original," she teased, then as if catching herself, a hand came up to cover her mouth. She wasn't normally one to take the teasing approach and she was happy to know that he couldn't see her flustering, red cheeks right now.
"One down," she continued, waving her hand in front of her face to cool it down. "Maybe giving pets names aren't as easy as one would think..." She wondered then, how parents decided to name their children. Did it have anything to do with the way they looked or was there just some names that felt more right than others?
The concept of originality had Cole immediately laughing. The more he thought about it the more right she simply was, and he couldn't help the way he chuckled at that. "You've got a point, though. It's definitely not easy." He continued on, shrugging his shoulders to himself. "I could drag up a list of random names and hope something jumps out, but that sounds dull." And they wouldn't fit, but surely that wasn't the point, was it?
"Have you ever thought about kids?" Cole asked, and before she could get a chance to answer, she continued on; "Cause we could name one after whatever name you really liked that much."