The Lunch Date of Ms. Young and Mr. Humphries

[Humphries]

This had been planned and arranged, though Humphries was fairly certain that the other half of the circumstance was unaware of that fact. He'd been watching her movements from a distance fairly well: not enough to quite qualify as stalking but enough to come dangerously close to that particular label. Humphries knew enough to know the woman's patterns, and he knew that she was often alone, if somewhat harried at lunch on certain days, usually when her husband was busy with other things and she had scheduling issues.

Which just struck Humphries as the perfect time.

He wove his way through the students easily enough. Most of them recognized him to some degree; since he'd altered his shape slightly he'd gotten quite a few comments regarding "Grumpy Cat," but Humphries had been weaving through students for years now. It came as second nature to him, and he easily worked his way to Ms. Young's table.

It was only a matter of tapping her leg slightly with his paw and letting his programmed British voice, so close to his own birthed one in many ways, speak his intent all the clearer: "Excuse one, Ms. Beth Young , but one couldn't help but notice that you are dining alone, and one would love to accompany you, so that we may get to know one another better."

[Beth Young]

Beth's brow quirked as she turned to look at the cat who'd suddenly taken residence in her presence. Now, Beth had very little against the cat, save for finding him and everything he did incredibly creepy. Offering the cat a polite smile, she gestured towards the row of empty seats around the table. "Make yourself at home, Mr. Humphries," she said. She had no idea why the cat bothered to approach her, but she supposed it didn't matter.

"What can I help you with?" she asked, still looking at the cat. "Or are you simply looking for some company?" She couldn't help but to wonder if the cat had a lot of friends. Surely, not many could think of it was particularly normal to dine with a cat, even if said cat was a member of the staff.

Thankfully, Beth was hardly the kind of person who would judge. Putting her fork back into the chicken salad she'd been making, Beth's eyes lowered to her food. Brad would have had a field trip with the cat. Considering how much he loved animals, Beth was sure he would have found talking to one fascinating.

[Humphries]

Make himself at home. Humphries actually looked down at the young woman's lap for a moment, seeming to consider it. he could feel his feline urges pulling him slightly that way. They were also pulling him toward the tray, as though he should play with it or possibly steal some food. His rational brain pointed out that he could probably simply wait or even let out a soft meow or something along those lines. No sooner had the edge of the thought come to mind when he let out the meow.

He flicked his tail. "Excuse one," the voice came again, "but one had realized that one had gotten off onto the wrong foot with you, Ms. Young. one had hoped to rectify this, so that we could work together. One sees no reason why we cannot be civil, and one certainly enjoys company."

Humphries flicked his tail and turned his head toward the line. "Though one does appear to be lacking in one of the most necessary components of a pleasant lunch date," he admitted, his tone somewhat wry, his tail flicking in an amused fashion.

[Beth Young]

Following the cat's gaze to her lap, Beth's brows furrowed. Now, she could understand the instincts that came with never changing back into a human, but this hardly seemed overly appropriate. She didn't say anything and instead, she simply cleared her throat - glad that it seemed as if the cat decided against following the instincts he clearly had.

Lifting her gaze, Beth offered the cat a polite smile and nodded. "No need to worry, Mr. Humphries." Despite her best judgement, Beth was willing to forget everything and start again with the cat. After all, neither of them would gain anything from bickering. It seemed rather pointless. After all, they might have had different opinions on certain matters, but surely, they had the same end goal, no? "You're right," she nodded again. "I would like that very much."

Following his gaze towards the line, Beth smiled. "Ah, yes," she licked her bottom lip. Pushing her tray forward, she gestured towards several of the still uneaten, packaged treats, such as a blueberry muffin, chocolate and one box with berries. "Help yourself."

[Humphries]

Hmm, she proved most willing to go along with the idea. Humphries practically purred at that. It would make things ever so much easier. The last thing he wanted was to have another staff member after him. He also knew precisely what words to offer to make things all the easier: "I did go somewhat overboard in my zealous quest to overturn Dirty Laundry. It had been quite troublesome after all," he bowed his head, more than willing to eat a little crow if it got him further along. Swallow the more disgusting meal now to savor the better later.

Speaking of: she offered her tray toward him. Humphries considered the offerings. Mostly packaged treats, as she likely knew. From someone else, Humphries would have possibly considered it to be something of an insult. He did lean forward to smell it slightly, before bobbing his head. "I'm afraid much of this isn't too greatly to my taste."

He shifted and looked back at the line, considering. "I'll just wait till the line dies down slightly," he did wonder if his nonchalance would unnerve his dining partner, and part of him wondered if he was still trying to make that the point or not. he looked over at her, considering. No, she struck him much more as someone who simply took her job seriously. He only needed to further confirm that, and, well, to see if she would be useful to him, or if he could be of use to her. After all, wasn't it women of a certain age that were so keen to care for beings of Humphries' particular racial persuasion?

[Beth Young]

Beth looked over at the cat. There was plenty of things she wanted to say about that topic, but she supposed, as long as the cat knew that the way he'd gone about things was less than.. Well, mature, she wasn't going to fault him for it. After all, they did have the same goal, didn't they? She supposed it was only to be expected that different people had different ways of doing things. It was one of those things that she constantly had to remind herself of. She offered the cat a smile. "We all do things without thinking sometimes," she nodded.

As the cat turned down her meal offer, Beth simply nodded once more. She wasn't particularly hungry, but she supposed she could always bring it to her husband's office later on. He'd more than likely accept the extra food.

"Alright," she replied. She knew all too well how tedious waiting for the lines to die down could be, but she wasn't exactly about to argue with the cat. She didn't at all envy him though. Thankfully, the students had lunch right about when she did, which often meant that she was free to head down to the cafeteria a few minutes earlier than most others. "It's only fair that I apologize as well," she began, her tone soft. "I never meant to undermine you or seem as if I tried attacking you." She looked over at the cat. "The blog was only recently brought to my attention. I've only worked here for so long," she explained.

[Humphries]

Yes, they all did. Humphries found his tail twitching in confirmation of that very fact. At least it seemed as though Ms. Young wasn't going to e holding the past against him. That had certainly been part of the purpose in harassing her. The cat also made note of her pushing some of her lunch aside. Likely that would go to a doggie bag or the trash soon enough.

Humphries' attention wandered to the line again, though only for a moment. For Ms. Young soon apologized, and it took some focus on Humphries' part not to start purring as she admitted to not wanting to undermine. "Quite alright," he assured her, the tail flicking again. "It's not as though you were in the loop. You saw an action and acted accordingly. It's more admirable than anything else.

"of course," the cat lowered his head slightly as though speaking more conspiratorially, "it's rather moot, considering that no one has been brought to justice and the blog continues its operation. Sometimes it's quite the shame that we allow people to prey upon our students so, isn't it?" Because Humphries wanted to be the only predator in this field. Again: just one of those little details that Ms. Young didn't quite need to know. They still had the same short term goal, at the least.

[Beth Young]

Pursing her lips, Beth offered the cat a tight smile. No, she didn't at all feel comfortable around the cat, though, she suspected that came more from the way he carried himself, and the simple fact that he was human, living in a feline's body, rather than their past... experiences. "Thank you," she replied stiffly, slight unease spreading over her, though, she tried her best to swallow it. This was hardly the time.

The cat continued then, and Beth's head tilted curiously to the side. "It is," she replied and agreed with a nod. Though, Beth had quickly learned that few people around bothered, simply because they claimed it couldn't be done - and lately, she'd been too occupied with her students to worry much more about the blog. It was rather one of those things that simply milled at the back of her head.

"I think," she began, straightening herself up as she regarded the cat for a moment. "What surprised me the most was the reluctance to do anything about this, and simply claiming that it couldn't be done. I have to admit that the fact that so few people truly cared, caught me off guard," she added with a shrug.

[Humphries]

Humphries could detect a bit of tension in the woman, though he wasn't quite as adept at studying human body language as he used to be. Too many years as a cat had left him with a slightly feline look at the way beings carried themselves. Right now she wasn't striking an aggressive stance or attempting to make herself look bigger than him, so he assumed that she wasn't feeling too put out. Now, if she began spraying her scent everywhere, then he knew they had a problem that would have to be carefully addressed.

Thankfully, the conversation was moving how and where Humphries wanted. He flicked his tail at the woman's response at the blog, his attention focused on her for the most part. He couldn't help but be somewhat distracted by the movement and noise around him: he avoided crowd for that reason, but he certainly didn't miss a word.

"To be perfectly blunt," the cat admitted, shuffling himself, "what bothers one most is that we simply allow it free reign, as if we're perfectly fine with having an anonymous gossip monger digging into lives and offering up secrets, be they social or otherwise. It strikes one as being precisely where our two tasks intersect: ensuring safety of the school and the wellbeing of our students."

Humphries seemed to sigh and turn as he finished, looking back to the line. "But alas, it's hard to catch such a circumstance, certainly without clearance..."

[Beth Young]

Nodding in agreement, Beth offered the cat a smile. "Yeah, I couldn't agree more." It was exactly what she'd been thinking. She had been rather baffled at the reactions it had gotten during the staff meeting. So few people seemed to care and even more seemed annoyed to be there. She didn't know the full story, sure, but still, it seemed awfully unprofessional. Maybe they'd already tried to get to the blog and maybe they had no clue what else to do with it, but surely that didn't mean they could simply toss all responsibility aside and pretend it wasn't a problem.

Because it surely was a problem. A rather huge problem at that too.

"mmm," she spoke, nodding thoughtfully at his words. Sighing, Beth shrugged her shoulders. "Well, if the meeting told us anything, it's that we can't really rely on many of the other staff members and the school doesn't seem rather inclined to offer up any of their resources." Maybe it was just one of those things better left alone. After all, there was no point in fighting for a cause that would get them nowhere.

Maybe it was simply better to focus on the battles they could actually fight. She supposed her place was back in the council offices, helping anyone who was affected by the blog instead.

[Humphries]

Yes, they did seem to be of a similar mind. Their goals aligned quite well with one another, though Humphries certainly didn't have the same motives as Ms. Young. It was almost depressing, knowing that this young woman cared so deeply for her students and just wanted to do the right thing. Or maybe Humphries should admire her, the same way anyone admired a Don Quixote when they encountered it.

Still, he continued agreeing with her as she continued speaking. "Everyone has their own worries and battles," he supplied diplomatically, inwardly smiling (he probably would have outwardly had his physiology allowed). "I did as best as I could, and the blog does seem to have withdrawn slightly."

Humphries wasn't entirely certain that he'd achieved any real success: the woman before him had put a stop to his efforts. He flicked his tail, figuring he might as well make allusion to that: "We'll never know what would have really happened though. Perhaps we should worry about other battles," Humphries tilted his head and looked to the woman, wondering if perhaps she had the potential to be an information mind. He did have an interest in the school...