Not A Dog

[Seiji Lockard]

“Now she really is my boss, as well as her sister. I wonder if I will get to meet her sister. What do you think Ghost?” Seiji was speaking to his pet snake Ghost, who was a four foot white boa constrictor. Ghost responded back to his master in his head; since that was the only really way for them to communicate properly. It was Ghost birthday and as such Seiji offered up his pets almost anything they wanted so long as it was within reason. Ghost had asked for a collar and leash of his very own and to be taken out for a walk. The snake was such a dog deep down to the point that if Seiji could, he would have turned Ghost into a dog. That kind of science was way out of the range of what Seiji was capable of doing, so for now he indulged in Ghost’s desire and got his snake a collar and leash. After making some modifications to it and actually carrying the snake outside, they were ready for their walk.

It certainly took a moment for Ghost to get used to moving around with something around his neck, but he soon worked it out and found that moving through the grass made it the easiest. Seiji just simply held onto the leash and let Ghost get at least a good couple of slithers in before he started to walk. Despite his length and weight, Ghost could still move pretty fast and was making easy work getting across the grass. His tail end sticking up a little every so often so he could wag it before focusing on moving. “Did you know the mutant gene appears more often in females? That could very well mean that mothers are more likely to pass it on to their children then the fathers are. Since they have two Xs and what not.” Seiji was talking to Ghost but knew the snake was more than likely not fully paying attention.

Nor was Seiji, as he flipped through his notes and read over the latest information he had found out. He felt like he was about to have another great breakthrough and hoped that it would be helpful. Suddenly the leash surged and Ghost was slithering across the grass as fast as he could go. He had smelled something, something pleasant that made him go into sort of hunter mode. The albino snake moving over towards the person who he smelled the wonderful scent coming from and already worked on making his way up and around the person’s body. Not yet squeezing or anything, and was most certainly flicking his tongue all the more with them being so close. “Ghost! Don’t you dare eat them.” Seiji commanded and of course ghost would obey a command from his master. “I’m so sorry about that.” Seiji said, the apology clear in his words as he already moved to unwrap Ghost and the leash from around said person.

[Humphries]

The man was walking a snake. Humphries stared at it for a while, doing what he did: observing people and making sure that they weren't up to anything... disruptive. This certainly didn't seem to qualify as something that would throw off the natural order, besides the fact that it looked absolutely absurd. Humphries chalked it up to something these Americans did. Certainly no one at St. Bethany would've ever thought of doing something like this.

However, said snake happened to notice that there was, in face, a cat slouched down and observing the rest of the populace. Despite Humphries letting out a warning growl and a bat, the snake still came up to him and began circling around his body. It didn't take much to actually circle, since Humphries wasn't a particularly large animal. Soon the cat found himself looking about over the top of a snake and growling, his ears laid flat to his head.

Said head swiveled to look at the man as he approached. Humphries eyes narrowed and he let out a hiss before squirming. The idiot was clearly at fault, and Humphries was certain that he could get some kind of citation for this. He just needed to find a way to activate his collar and send in the correct report. In the meanwhile, he had to satisfy himself with glaring vehemently at the man, determined to let him know just how horrible a person he happened to be.

[Seiji Lockard]

It too a moment to click that Ghost had captured himself a cat, since Seiji was pretty sure cats were in the category of animals that were not allowed to be pets on campus. That didn’t change the fact that he still apologized because he felt bad and even if he could not outright communicate with cats, he knew that there was someone that could and that perhaps Ghost could understand the feline. Animals did seem to have their own way of understanding other animals out there and there had been some proof that animals could communicate with different animals not of the same species. “Ghost, don’t you dare squeeze or eat her…him.” Seiji order his snake and at first got the cats gender wrong until Ghost corrected him. Snakes could easily tell a lot about a person or animal all because of their extremely high sense of smell. The certain hormones and chemicals a person or animal gave off explained it all too all snakes, Ghost was a snake, he knew, and informed Seiji of such information.

Ghost opened his mouth, his jaw unhinging as if he was actually going to try and quickly shove the cat in his mouth. Dog didn’t like cats either so he felt that it was justified if he at the cat, yet he had a strong bond with Seiji and could not disobey a command even if he wanted to. The snake knowing he could have had a loop hole if he didn’t tell Seiji the cat’s gender, but that would have been a very small loop hole that probably would not have worked anyways. Ghost’s jaw snapped back into place and after letting out a hiss of his own he untangled himself from around the cat. He was not scared of the tiny beast since he was a four foot boa and he could swallow the kitty whole, but his master told him no. As soon as Ghost let the cat go, Seiji moved to kneel down next to the cat to start checking if there were any wounds or damage to the feline.

Even if Ghost did not squeeze, his weight, size, and the fact that his body was pure muscle could have easily cause an injury to the smaller creature. Seiji was not vet since he used smaller animals as test subjects but he could at least identify if there was any injury and take the creature to the vet before going to find the cat’s owner. “Hold still, I just want to give you a look over.” Seiji informed the cat, not wanting it to run off and possibly trigger Ghost going after him. “What do you mean he smells a little different?” Seiji asked Ghost who was flicking is tongue out into the air and taking in information on this cat he wanted to eat.

[Humphries]

Humphries let out a small hiss as the fool mentioned "her" and then meowed at him. You'd think these people would realize when they were in the presence of a superior intellect by now. The snake certainly seemed to realize something, though Humphries couldn't say with the utmost certainty whether or not said snake understood enough to let go or let go simply because its "master" decided it needed to.

Humphries did know that he was certainly filing a report regarding students and/or employees having dangerous animals for pets and openly... "walking" them throughout the school. As the snake released him, Humphries moved away, haughtily taking several steps only to whirl and glare up at Seiji when finished. Humphries then quite purposefully began licking himself. Since he lacked the capacity to extend his middle finger in the appropriate fashion, he figured this would have to do.

Said fool then started prodding though, which had Humphries glaring at him. The cat seemed to almost sigh as the man insisted in poking and prodding. Humphries actually moved a few times to let the guy look him over. Naturally Humphries had been intelligent enough to relax and not get too horrible.

When Seiji asked his question, Humphries let out a sharp meow. He nudged the closest hand with a head, and, while he was there, rubbed against him for a few moments. Might as well tick of the snake and rub Humphries' subtle scent on him. Then the cat flicked his tail and stretched his neck so that his collar, with subsequent ID attached stating his name and position, became all the more visible.

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji caught the hiss when he called him a her, but didn't really put two and two together, figuring the cat was all around mad at potentially being made a meal. At least Ghost in a way was enforcing the whole 'not pets that don't live in a cage or tank' rule at the school. He would eat all the cats, dogs, or whatever anyone thought they could sneak on the school grounds. No matter what it was, it would more than likely be smaller than Ghost unless someone as well owned a snake that was as old as Ghost was now. Seiji was pretty sure that ghost was the biggest snake on campus, but that could easily change with how students were brought to the school and transferred all around here and there. Ghost only let the feline go because he had been told to, any other time he would have flexed his body and swallowed the enemy of all dogs whole. Ghost of course was still thinking of himself as a dog and the temptation to chase after the creature was strong.

Seiji no way at all took the cat licking himself as a way of giving him the middle finger or taking it in a rude way at all. He knew it was a think that many animals did especially cats and dogs so he took it simple as that. Maybe that cat just had an inch that he didn't feel like getting with his paw. It certainly probably felt better using your warm and scratchy sandpaper like tongue to get at an inch over a soft and padded paw unless you let your claw out. Seiji thought a little bit of that in the back of his mind as he looked over the cat, pleased that it was not putting up a fight but he was pretty sure that he was getting a lot of dirty looks from the creature. He was better at reading reptiles and humans over mammals however so he was tapping into his brain to try and read the furry creatures body language. "Good kitty...cat." Seiji said, correcting himself because this cat looked too old to be actually counted as a kitten and yes he was picky about that sort of thing.

The cat let out a meow at his question, not that Seiji understood what the creature was saying and even if Ghost did; he was more concerned about taking a bite out of the cat, glaring with unable to blink eyes as he continued to flick out his lounge. He started to let out a menacing hiss when the cat started to rub against his master. Seiji just simply petting the cat and moving his hand to scratch behind his ears. "Easy Ghost, he is just being friendly is all." Seiji said to try and help his snake calm down, his eyes finally spotting the collar, and reading it. Humphries was his name and he was...well that could not be right. Unless the staff was allowed to have a pet like this or...if what Ghost had meant about the scent... "One meow if your name is Humphries and two if it's not." Seiji said, and would not feel completely weird for talking to a cat because he could talk to snakes. He just wanted to be sure of something as Ghost was giving him a bit more information in his head.

[Humphries]

Good kitty had the cat sighing in frustration. He got it quite often, so he couldn't be quite so perturbed by it. Didn't mean that he particularly liked hearing it. Humphries made a mental note to call this guy "good boy" at his earliest convenience. Which would hopefully be soon, if Humphries could adjust the device tucked into his collar to send messages to the guy's phone. That sometimes took some work, but that's why they'd given him the thing in the first place.

The rubbing seemed to have some effect. Humphries gave the snake an arch look as Seiji spoke, letting the other animal know who was the superior being here: the cat. It also meant that the fool noticed Humphries' collar. The cat patiently moved his head, letting the other guy read the collar and put two and two together.

Humphries just hoped that he hadn't overestimated the feeble intelligence.

Ah, he apparently hadn't! Humphries looked right into the Asian man's face as he asked his question. Then, Humphries let out a very noticeable meow. Just one, then he fell silent, staring unblinkingly at the man.

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji didn't outright notice the device on the cat’s collar, he could tell that the collar was different but he was currently not thinking too much on that subject. How could he? His snakes was informing him of information that was making the information on the cat's collar seemed more like facts then some kind of 'mini joke' going around with Security. Seiji's mind started to whirl then, kicking into gear as he was putting the pieces together and still having some doubt on the matter. If this was someone that was actually a part of the school staff, then why were they a cat, instead of say a human being. Where they could talk and actually be useful in ways a cat could not be with its lack of thumbs and ability to communicate with humans or mutants that didn't have some animal communication ability.

Could he even communicate to those people since he was not in fact a full on DNA cat? So many questions. Ghost however could care less about the questions that were going through his master's head on this cat. All he cared about was making sure that he would get a nice bite on that furball's body when his master was not paying attention. He would make sure not to eat him, but biting down with his tiny sharp teeth would be enough to cause the cat some discomfort, a little bit of bleeding; and if Ghost was lucky, maybe an infection from the bacteria in the snakes mouth. Not that there was much there since Seiji took very good care of his snakes and made sure they were all pretty healthy. The cat...Humphries let out a single meow to Seiji's question, proving its intelligence. Well, one could say that the cat was just in general meowing because it had already know to meow when someone would speak to it, but Seiji was going to believe it was because of the cats intelligence.

"So you really are a mutant! Wow, I could not tell at all!" Seiji said full of excitement as he could not help but to just pick the cat up off of the ground as he stood up. He was already poking and prodding at the cat a little, his hands running over the creature as if just double checking that Humphries was in fact a cat. Yes he knew that there were mutants who could change like this; he was not surprised at that, he was surprised that this mutant apparently had to be stuck. Right? "Safe to assume you are stuck in this form right? I mean why else would you be walking around like this unless you had some kind of cat fetish." Seiji said, his words coming out of his mouth fast as he peered at the cat, turning him around and just studying Humphries like a scientist did without their equipment.

[Humphries]

Humphries noticed the snake moving, but he didn't give it too much mind. It wouldn't dare attack him, not with its owner right there. If it did, then said owner would be paying for the vet bills and what have you. Not that any of this would actually matter, as the human picked Humphries up.

The cat did the cat equivalent of a sigh: flicking his tail and giving Seiji a tired look. The prodding began, and Humphries had a short debate on whether or not he should let it continue. Well, the guy was probably some kind of nerd, and if Humphries didn't let him prod, he'd be itching to get to it, which would make future communication awkward at best, and impossible at worst. Plus, it was attention, and Humphries thrived on attention.

He let out a little meow at the stuck thing, flicking his tail again. At the mention of having a fetish, his eyes narrowed. People had said that back when he could still transform. Not his fault that people were worse then animals, particularly felines. Humphries let out a meow and pawed at Seiji. He twisted his head to let the man see the device embedded on the collar, the one that he could utilize with body language and so on to actually communicate. Maybe he could get the idiot to bring out his phone so he could properly berate him. Really, Humphries should just insist that everyone at the school be briefed on him. He was an important new staff member, after all.

[Seiji Lockard]

Humphries was right in thinking that Ghost would not outright attack the cat with his master around, or at least not while his master was looking or holding the cat. He was certain he would run into the stupid feline mutant creature and teach it a lesson in what happened when you messed with a Snake-dog's master. You did not simply rub your cat scent all over someone else master and expect for everything to be fine and dandy. No, Ghost was going to get him back and all he needed to do was just wait a little on the matter and then he would be able to get his sweet, sweet revenge. Seiji was too distracted with looking over Humphries to pay attention to his snake’s thoughts and was not overly concerned. He trusts Ghost to not kill someone after he had told him not to. Plus this person was not just some cat but in fact a mutant so that would cause even less of a reason to kill to seriously harm Humphries.

Seiji caught the look and the tail flick but he just noted them all in the back of her head as he looked over Humphries with great curiosity. Part of him wanting to draw some blood and run some test on the cat's DNA to see if there was a way to get him to turn back or better yet figure out what had triggered the permeant change. That would help greatly with figuring out how to prevent costly side effects that some mutants had to deal with the longer they had their power. All the uses that Seiji could think up as he held onto the cat and got a full look over, even confirming that in fact the cat was a male. He still tried to make sure to not be so obvious about what he was doing since this was not just a cat but a fellow mutant who was just stuck in a cat form. Confirmed by the meow that Humphries had let out, sticking to the whole one meow being yes and two meows being no. At least that was what Seiji was assuming that Seiji was going to stick to since Seiji had suggested it in the first place in order for them to communicate.

There had to be an easier way of talking to him. Perhaps finding a mutant who can talk to cats or animals...or a mind reader...perhaps even ghost can talk to him. Seiji wondered but Ghost refused the latter as he turned away and grumbled a little because this was his b-day gift and a stupid cate was messing it up. Humphries was then pawing at Seiji and letting out a meow, clearly wanting to get Seiji's attention and he had it. The young man watching the cat closely as Humphries drew attention to his collar and Seiji finally fully noticing the device on the collar. "Hmm...I'm not actually all that skilled with technology but it looked like something similar to how a phone communicates." Seiji said as he tiled his head a little and squinted at the device. No her was not good at technology, but he had read several books on it so still was very knowledgeable on the subject. "Are you going to hack my phone and talk through it?" Seiji asked in a teasing tone as he held the cat under one arm while he pulled out his phone. Doubting that was what the cat could do because he was still a cat even if he was a mutant.

[Humphries]

Finally, the idiot pulled out his phone. Usually people already had them out, often to take pictures of Humphries in all his magnificence. It was slightly surprising that the inquisitive young man hadn't already thought of that. For surely he'd want a stunning picture of the fine feline specimen he held in his arms to examine at a later date. Humphries made a mental note to mention that in a few moments.

For now, he had to let out a slight meow at the assertion. He moved to rub his neck against the phone, head-butting it a few times. He then reached up to paw it a few times, swiping at the screen. Humphries was hoping for a touch screen here, as most were required. If it was a smart phone, then Humphries could connect his device to it and work through the body language and synapse reader that had been developed for him (which wasn't unlike the sort of things done from humans who suffered from some kind of ailment that disallowed them to communicate).

First though, Humphries needed to get a good look. His patience was starting to wear thin, and he was seriously considering just biting the phone and squirming till the guy released him. Then Humphries could play around with it at his leisure, or, well, actually while the guy let out curses and insisted that the bad kitty give back his phone.

But tact first. For now.

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji did better study a subject in person then over the phone, because all he could do was look at the photo and that did nothing for him. It was like just reading a book with a picture of just one image. You needed multiple images and in Seiji's case he need to actually have something hands on if he was actually going to study. Plus Humphries looked like any other cat so he didn't really need to take pictures of him and actually had no plans to. He could easily look the cat up on the school data base if they were in fact a mutant and a member of the school staff. Another meow was let out as Seiji pulled out his phone and the cat already was reaching to mess around with it. It was in fact a touch screen since of course Seiji had to have high end technology for the sort of things that he did. Plus Seiji was a rich boy and he still had a habit of buying things that were a little more on the expensive side.

He didn't put up a fuss and watched at the cat tried to work with his phone, figuring the cat was more than likely trying to connect the phone to the device on his collar. Seiji helped him out by at least unlocking his phone and going into the setting where he could connect to his devices. Seiji at least was making guesses at what Humphries was trying to do since he was just making educated guesses based off of what the cat was doing and what he would assume would be the method of communication. They probably had a mutant who was really good with technology make the communication device to work specifically for the cat, but what Seiji was assume that the technology probably was based off of something originally meant for humans so would not have worked for just a normal cat. Humphries was a mutant cat, so in a way he was still 'human' and thus with modification such a device could work theoretically.

"Oh, this would probably be easier if I set you down." Seiji quickly figured as he set the cat down on the ground along with his phone. Kneeling down to help the feline out if he needed it since it probably had to be a little difficult to work everything with just paws. Ghost made his move quick and slither his way over and onto his master. Making his way to wrap part of his body around Seiji and hissed at the cat. Basically asserting that Seiji was his and that Humphries had better watch himself or else he was going to have to deal with Ghost.

[Humphries]

Ah! Humphries could feel the technology buzzing now as his collar reacted to the unlocked smart phone. Technically he could've more actively hacked it just by getting within range, but it was much more fun to get people to do what he wanted. Humphries felt the collar let out a little buzz, letting him know that it had added Seiji's phone to Humphries' communication nexus.

The man set Humphries down, and the cat was tempted to mention that being held didn't really affect the situation at all. Instead, he rubbed his neck and moved a little, breathing correctly and letting it work. As it had been enhanced from a tech mutant, it did work well, sending a text message to Seiji's phone:

i am humphries. i am security staff. you should keep your snake in your room. it clearly wants to eat me.

Clearly not as erudite as Humphries would be with a keyboard or proper communicator at his disposal, but he had to use what he had at hand. That he had a device that could allow him to do so was enough.

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji watched with a curious expression on his face with a hint of wonder as he watched Humphries touched the phone and move around a little. The college student had to move a little with the added weight of his four foot boa on him, but he didn't mind it and was used to Ghost acting like this from time to time. It only seemed to happen around other animals or if anyone was getting too close to his master without Ghost having been invited to share in some of the love. The latter had yet to happen so all of Ghost anger and jealous feelings were directed towards Humphries and his stupid cat face, stupid body, stupid tail, and stupid smell. "At least use variations of the word stupid, Ghost." Seiji pointed out to his snakes since he was now not super distracted and was picking up on his snake’s thoughts. All of his snakes had a colorful vocabulary thanks to the books that they helped Seiji read and he had taught them a verity of things.

He actually didn't like the word things, but it was a simple word that just worked when he didn't actually feel like going into super details of everything and that did in fact happen with Seiji. Such thoughts quickly did not mean anything when Seiji's phone started to buzz with text messages. He actually had a ringtone set for pretty much every notification he would get and specifically or each person in his contact list, but his phone was on silent at the moment so it just buzzed. "Fascinating. It sends it as a text. Here I thought you were going to open up speech software." Seiji said out loud to the cat but it was mainly to himself as he picked up his phone and began to read the text. The cat introduced his name, his position, and then made a suggestion about keeping Ghost in the room because Ghost wanted to eat him.

"Oh, Ghost? He won't eat you once I explain that you are a mutant like me but that you are just stuck as a cat. He just gets jealous." Seiji quickly cleared up before extended his hand out to the cat to shake, because well if this was in fact an intelligent fellow mutant that was just stuck as a cat, Seiji was still going to have his manners and want to shake hands. "I'm Seiji Lockard. College students and Side Effect Specialist at the school. It is very nice to meet you." Seiji said with a large smile appearing on his face, he was so wanting to ask so many questions and was doing his best to not overwhelm the feline.

[Humphries]

There, now that communication had been established, admittedly shakily but still established, the mutant had started acting politely. Well, in this case, more politely would've been the correct term to use, as Mr. Lockard hadn't exactly been rude prior to now, minus the cat that clearly wanted to eat Humphries, despite what its owner asserted.

Humphries moved again, bobbing his head a bit to send another text: i do not have speech software yet. too complicated. this easier. has to work through brain. Ugh, Humphries had meant synapses, but the stupid device made him sound like some sort of Neanderthal. He practically rolled his eyes, instead settling for closing and opening them slowly, which was effectively the same thing.

good to met you SEIJI LOCKARD. even if you snake did try to eat me. lol.

It still did that? Dammit: Humphries had asked the creator not to have it add those stupid text bits in there, but it apparently still did from time to time. Humphries had opted the posture for "light teasing humor," but of course the stupid machine translated it like that. He meowed with irritation, twisting to look down at his collar.

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji’s eyes looked at the text message and glance up at Humphries at the same time, wanting to observe how the cat was communicating and in general what the cat was doing. All while reading the text messages of course. He could in fact do both, because of his ability to see through the eyes of his snakes. Ghost was staring pretty intensely at Humphries so it was easy enough to look through Ghost eyes while reading the text messages. It actually put a lot of strain on his eyes when he did this sort of thing, having better luck if he actually closed his eyes and just focused on seeing through one set of eyes. Yet he used this technique a lot when studying because it allowed him to read two books or at least check his notes at the same time. He actually had used this power to cheat several times when he just ended up getting too swamped with work or class work.

“Oh, yes I could see how having it text would be simpler. Plus people’s phones could easily be set to read the words out loud.” Seiji responded back, understanding what the cat was getting at and it was neat to actually be talking to a cat. Sure the language used in the text seemed a bit off, but he figured it could not be a full proof system yet. The next text message came in and caused Seiji to chuckle a little at the last bit of the text. He stopped viewing things through Ghost eyes and rubbed at his own before blinking a few times. “Again, I’m sorry about that. Students are not really allowed to have cats on campus so it’s probably my fault for not getting on him for eating another cat he found around campus.” Seiji said as he ruffled his hair as he thought back to when Ghost came back to him with a very fully looking body.

Seiji had been out with Ghost outside reading a few books when Ghost slithered off and well came back and informed his master of what he caught. The snake at least knew enough to not actually eat a mutant cat since he could smell the difference between a normal cat and a mutant one. Still, the snake had enjoyed the meal. Ghost however had not even squeezed Humphries because of the fact he knew the cat was not just a normal cat and he was saying as much to his maser. “He still apologizes for scaring you. I will keep a better eye on him.” Seiji explained and while he understood that Humphries probably wanted Seiji to keep Ghost in his tank, he had to let the snake out to move around a bit as it was unhealthy to just keep him tanked up all the time.