[P2:FIRE] The Fires of Decision

[Humphries]

The IMAC competitions roared on in the distant arena, as various students fought one another for supremacy, determined to bring home glory. Most of the staff and students had ventured down to enjoy the festivities, but not one particular feline. No, Humphries had decided that he would take advantage of the quiet within the building to sun himself at one of his favorite spots.

So the cat stretched out on a shelf in the library, a sunbeam catching his belly and warming him quite nicely. He drifted in that nice space between sleep and dream, his eyes half-lidded and his attentions drifting. A spare bit of students and one librarian actually sequestered themselves in the library as well, likely the same sort who wouldn't care for the noise or the crowds either.

Though one in particular caught Humphries' attention. He dimly recognized the young woman as being one of the visitors from another school. She moved through the library with strange purpose, going to a back shelf. Curious, Humphries rose, but kept still and as quiet as a cat could keep. He watched as the girl stopped in the corner, looking around. She didn't look up, which left Humphries safe, though it was unlikely that she'd consider him unless she recognized him. So Humphries watched as she clapped her hands together...

and the corner exploded.

The cat let out a hiss and leaped awkwardly from his perch, landing on a cart. It slid and Humphries twisted as he landed, sending out a message to the top number on his contact list:

EXPLODING OF THE FIRES IN LIBRARY MUCH FLAMES IN BURSTING PATTERNS

And Humphries meowed loudly, hoping that someone else figured things out as the old books behind him burst into flames like something out of a horrible movie.

[Olivia Chance]

Olivia had already finished her one challenge. Stupid teachers. Anyways, she'd been hanging out in the library when flames had exploded in a corner. Her eyes widened. She was sure she was going to cry. The library was her safe haven. All those books. All those beautiful books. What was the best way to go about this? She moved to the corner it had started in, trying to take books out of the path of the flames in the hope it would die down. She looked around for any extinguisher or water she could manipulate. Nada.

"THIS IS SO STUPID! I'M A BLOODY WATER MANIPULATOR WHO CAN'T PUT OUT A FRIGGIN' FIRE!" Then she heard the meow and looked around. Where?

[Humphries]

This definitely did not look good. Humphries would even be willing to soak himself in water if that was what it took to ensure that he didn't end up going up. The books just went up like tinder, and Humphries was willing to wager that the exploder had simply walked a little further on and set a few more fires and what have you. He actually felt one singe his tail.

He also heard other people yelling. Most students would be in a situation only a little better than Humphries: their powers wouldn't be overly helpful with regard to actually putting out a fire or anything like that. However, this particular perturbed student yelled out something about manipulating water.

That, Humphries could work with.

He altered his course, his body still moving as quickly as he could manage it, bounding about the library he'd long since memorized. He knew for a fact that there was a water cooler in the staff section, one filled with at least enough water for them to make something of a stand. He just needed to combine his knowledge with this mutant's ability. So he let out a few more loud meows, hoping to be heard over the fires. If they could at least slow its progress...

hopefully he wouldn't get stuck with someone incompetent or weak though, or else they were both going up in flames.

[Olivia Chance]

She was trying desperately to figure out what to do when she heard meowing. Was there a cat stuck in here? She moved towards the sound and saw the cat.

"Awww...so cute...no Olivia focus there's a fire around your beloved books." She crouched down to be closer to the cat's level.

"Are you just meowing for the sake of it or are you pulling a lassie? Is little Jimmy stuck down the well AGAIN? If he is, he can damn well stay there."

[Humphries]

Great, she was one of those. Humphries actually paused to give her a look that conveyed how many flavors of idiot she appeared for the whole "cute" comment. There was literally a fire raging around them, and while he supposed that his dashing bow and stunning good looks did deserve to get that, they really had other things that needed to be focused on at the moment.

So he let out another meow and jerked his head. He bunched up, daring to leap onto a nearby counter. Humphries skidded slightly, mostly because the fire was shaking him, especially as it appeared to be getting worse, though he couldn't see the exploder in sight. He flicked his tail, turning and letting out another meow as he hopped over to a spinning chair, letting the thing glide a few feet.

Yes, he was pulling a Lassie, but considering the circumstances, he didn't want to mess around attempting to get his device to hack her phone, if she actually had one and had it turned on.

[Olivia Chance]

The cat jumped up on the counter and hopped to a chair, meowing and flicking his tail. Olivia sighed.

"I'm not sure whether you're doing this with a purpose, or just to bug me. My neighbours had a cat who always enjoyed giving me the runaround. It's just like a cat to toy with people like they were mice." She rolled her eyes. She didn't even know if cats could understand human words. It wasn't like anyone was lining up to study whether they did. Cats were uncooperative at the best of times. They probably understood everything. Problem is cats spoke to whoever they felt like speaking to, not whoever spoke to them first. Olivia looked back at the spreading fire, and then looked at the cat again. She rolled her eyes.

"It's worth a shot I guess. Even if this ends up being a wild goose chase. Who knows? Maybe I'll see some water on the way. Not that that would be a huge help since my power control isn't great, but I suppose it would be better than nothing."

[Humphries]

Humphries let out another meow as the words "with a purpose" finished, hoping to make it quite clear that he understood her. Though part of him wanted to point out that there was no sane feline that would be sticking around a burning building and attempting to meow at a human and not attempting to flee. Then again, he supposed that was hoping for too much from some of these ignorant fools that passed as students these days.

An eye roll? Humphries let out a soft growl at that and flicked his tail again. He then leaped, heading toward the faculty offices again. Thankfully the door was at least partially open, so Humphries could body-check it and nudge it a little further. Even the idiot with low power control should be able to do something with the burbling water bottle that sat just a few feet in the room.

Humphries let out another meow, hoping to at least get this far. Then they could figure out some means of stalling the fire. They could only last till they ran out of that water, but that would at least be something.

[Olivia Chance]

With a purpose got a meow at the end of it. Olivia was going to just go ahead and assume the cat knew what the hell she was saying.

"Sorry if I was insulting. I didn't think cats could understand." She was looking certifiably nuts, but hey if the cat was meowing and running towards that room...wait running towards that room? Olivia followed the cat and then saw the water bottle in the faculty room. Her eyes widened as she moved closer and took it off its mooring and taking off the cap. Then she manipulated the water out of it, concentrating as hard as she could. She was going to have a major migraine after this, and probably sleep for a thousand years.

[Humphries]

Yes, certainly on the denser side of the spectrum, this particular human. Most of the students at least figured that he was most likely a mutant by this point. It was the logical conclusion: cat with humanlike intelligence and ability that lived in a school for mutants and seemed perfectly in control of himself. Still, she was moving, and that would be enough for now.

Ah, she even found the water bottle. Humphries would have purred were he still not concerned about the fires around them. He was seriously considering just suggesting she use what she could of the water to get them out of there. However, that didn't strike him as being quite in line with his job, and he happened to enjoy that. So instead he let out a meow and turned again, trotting. They needed to try and head the fire off, to stop it from hitting the newer sections of the library at the least. If they got that section wet enough, the fire shouldn't spread.

Then they could get out of there like a pair of, well, cats fleeing a burning building. Humphries just hoped the human would figure enough to follow and could follow basic body language, even if the feline version was... different.

[Olivia Chance]

She could feel the water not letting itself be controlled and she quickly manipulated it back to its original bottle.

"F this. I'm picking it up and putting this fire out like a regular human." She screwed the cap back on and picked it up, hefting it on her shoulder. She followed the cat. Hey, he hadn't led her wrong yet, so she didn't see a problem with it. Of course, staff really should be taking care of this instead of letting a student put themselves in harm's way, but she WAS a water manipulator and she figured that came with certain responsibilities when a fire broke out.

[Humphries]

Oh how the one particular staff member would love to point out that staff was attempting to take care of it, arguably better than his ability warranted. About all Humphries could directly do was lift a leg and pray, or possibly knock something heavy onto the fire. Or just keep doing what he was doing: leading someone with the right power to the right area.

If they could just get it to---ah. Humphries paused as they came within sight of the various computers and other written records. He turned to meow over his shoulder and then shifted, raising a hand to bat in the general direction of the quickly encroaching flames. Stop it here, prevent thousands in damage, and then get the hell out. Surely even this fool would be able to figure that much out.

[Olivia Chance]

Olivia heard more meowing and looked where the cat was looking. The fact that she was doing what a cat was indicating was a little weird, but whatever. She saw the computers and the records and the fire encroaching on the part. She hauled the bottle nearby and began pouring the water on it, hoping to help stop it from spreading. Even though she was following the directions of a cat and it might not have been the best case to test her sanity.

[Humphries]

Okay, progress, though just outright pouring wouldn't be as useful as using powers. Humphries wasn't sure that he could really indicate that without using his device, and, again, he didn't want to take the time to try and get her to figure that out, not when the whole body language thing was proving to be mostly serviceable. For now, Humphries looked, studying the fire, not only using his eyesight but feeling it in his whiskers, sensing the shifting air currents. He flicked his tail, tracing the path of the fire. There weren't many people left already, but he could see the fire heading toward some of them.

Great, now they had to somehow split the attention. Humphries moved to his partner, moving to pad the bottle. He waited till he got attention before gesturing with a paw toward where he saw the spreading fire heading toward a group of younger students. Hopefully this water manipulator would get enough of the gist to carry some water over.

[Olivia Chance]

There were students, and the cat had seen it. She started feeling angry. She needed to save these people and her powers didn't control properly. She couldn't help! It made her feel absolutely useless.

That's when the cap exploded off of the container and water exploded towards the fire near the students. Olivia just stood there, shocked.

[Humphries]

Wonderful: she could at least take direction. Humphries meowed with encouragement as she looked toward the group. If she could at least point in the right direction and slosh water that direction, it would be progress. It appeared as though that was what they were going to have to settle for... until a burst of water shot out toward the students.

Well, that worked. Humphries dashed forward, meowing at the students. They didn't seem to question why a cat and a teenage girl were saving them, but instead scrambled to their feet. Humphries turned and flicked his tail, moving with a strange amount of authority for a cat. They followed, which left him looking to the girl.

Humphries let out another meow and then twisted. They still needed to figure out a way of getting the fire to stop spreading toward the computers. Then they'd need to get out of here and hope that someone better trained and better mutated for this problem showed up.