{CO} Catch A Tiger By the Tail

[Humphries]

One of these days, Humphries was going to run into Tamara Sulik when he didn't need her aid with something. He supposed that, strictly speaking, this was fairly true already. They technically lived together and had encountered one another a few times before now that didn't involve such circumstances. But nearly every other time, it was, well, it was very much like this.

Humphries was currently backed underneath a table in the reception area. He could see the tribe of children who'd gathered around the edges. Their feet cast shadows against the tablecloth as they moved about, shuffling and moving with one another. He'd been putting up with them for quite some time now. He'd been wholly tolerant as far as he'd concerned. They'd picked him up six times. They'd offered him cake, hotdogs, something mushed that he couldn't identify (which about counted the same a hot dog), chips, and at one point a marshmallow. They'd "played" with him. They'd called him several "pet" names despite his talking to them. And there had been the questions. The endless questions.

What had finally pushed Humphries over the edge, however, had been one when pulled his tail. That had proven far too painful and he'd been dashing about, finally electing to seek cover. Rather than wait for a good Samaritan, he'd immediately sent a text out to the one fellow authority figure he trusted to get him out of this with at least some dignity intact.

And now he had to sit and wait.

[Tamara Sulik]

Tamara could take the move-in week without problem. It was part of her job since it involved the south wing and the students living in it. It only made sense that she would have to ensure everything was going well, that no one ended up losing anything during the transfer and to avoid any fights to happen for whatever reason. This, however, this she liked a lot less.

She shouldn’t be here, serving food, drinks, napkins, whatever and introduce herself to the various new people. They all knew her, she had been all over the south wing for a week, going to all of those who moved into their dorm room to make sure they got the right one, that everything was there and they knew the rules of their dorm. Then she had to put an end to a few parties, but that was only when curfew was on its way. They could use a bit of fun. So long as no one around complained, she’d let them. Mostly because she would have loved a lot more parties during her time at St Cadou.

She didn’t think much about Humphries during that time. Had she done, it would probably to envy the fact that, as a cat, he didn’t need to do that. But he was also a member of the staff so he had to be here, right? Cat hair and food, not a really good mix but he had to be here somewhere. And he was. She even got a text from him, asking for her help and saying that he was hiding under a table. That seemed a little ridiculous but after picking him up from stranger places, she didn’t argue and jumped at the opportunity he gave her to ignore the flow of students arriving and go after the cat.

Now, it would have been nice to know which table exactly but it was not like they didn’t look all alike. Tamara probably looked pretty weird, lifting the tablecloths and looking underneath for a little furball. It took a few of them before she could get to him. “Alright, come over here,” she said, even ready to carry him if that was necessary. Then maybe they could get a table for themselves and slack off on what they asked of them. There were enough staff ready to help, did they really needed them as well6 She didn't think so. If they really wanted to talk to them and know what they were doing, they could just come and ask them. “I’m not sure I got it right, what were people doing to you?”

[Humphries]

"Oh thank God," Humphries said as he heard Tamara. He turned, his tail brushing against he tablecloth for a moment. He swore he felt it move, which only made him skitter all the quicker, nearly leaping onto Tamara. He settled, at least for the moment, with entwining himself near her legs, hovering close by. His eyes were wide and he turned them up, letting out a meow of protest that he couldn't quite suppress.

Still, it was rude not to answer questions: "The children," he explained, tilting his head toward where the gathered children were, many looking up toward Tamara now. "They've been molesting me for some time now. I was willing to put up with most of it,but I drew the line at tail abuse," he glared at the child in question, who looked, at least to Humphries's eyes, exceptionally bratty. Humphries had half a mind to try and find the child's mother, or to outright sic Tamara on him. His desire for some sort of vengeance warred with his exhaustion and flat out urge to get out of there as quickly as possible...

[Tamara Sulik]

Humphries walked out of the table to join her, rather quickly as well. Tamara believed he could take a lot so whatever happened must have been big. She looked down t her colleague, glad she preferred pants to skirts all of a sudden. The gaze she got from Humphries just told her he went through hell.

The kind of hell she would not have to deal, thank god. She could understand how devilish children can be. She must not have been a cute and obedient little child herself. And she had to deal with the demons of this school. Only not in the same way, it seemed. Molesting by kids? Ah yes, of course, the petting and all. Another thing she could be glad about, none of them would dare try that on her, even if she bet some had wished to ‘pet’ her.

Another good thing was the fact she didn’t need to check her phone every time Humphries wanted to talk to her. It made the conversations pretty long and tedious. She looked at the kids he mentioned as he detailed what they had been doing. Tail abuse. Who would have thought she’d hear that one day? She looked at the child in question. “What’s your name?” And the child was idiot to give it to her. The others might say cocky but there was not much of that when she said. “Well, congratulations. School has just started and you’ve already earned yourself detention.” She was not in the mood to be polite today. She wanted to sleep for a week and they just gave her an excuse to lash out on them.

“I suppose we have to remain here...” This was not a prospect that interested her much. She thought she introduced herself to everyone already. Couldn’t someone else tell them the rules of the school? “If so, how about we requisition a table and let the others deal with the students?”

[Humphries]

Humphries followed Tamara's attention as he looked at his tormentor. The woman pulled what amounted to a motherly trick on the boy, getting him to confess to his crime and receive punishment almost immediately. Humphries did not blame Tamara nor did he find any reason to argue for a lesser punishment. Much like her, he had run out of energy for this whole mess.

"Yes," he said as she pointed out that they had to remain here. "At least through the announcement," which Humphries was intrigued by. The board would speak first, before the student council did whatever. It would be intriguing to see what came of it. But, like Tamara, Humphries had grown tired of most of the day's events, most of the week's for that matter.

"That sounds wonderful," he admitted, popping up. he hopped up on the nearest table, ignoring the few protests as he looked around. "I also wouldn't mind a drink at this point." He turned to look at the nearest child. "Don't worry: I'm of age," he let out a slight purr and flicked his tail. "Does that table over there look more or less abandoned to you?"

[Tamara Sulik]

The boy wanted to protest but either Tamara convinced him enough with her gaze that he should not or he realised he could have ended up with far worse than a mere detention. Had he hit a teacher, it wouldn’t have been this kind of a punishment. It was not that Tamara judged Humphries less than any staff on two legs but she’d rather not deal with this longer than required. She’d file a report eventually for Humphries and if the administration wanted to do more, they’d do more. She was washing her hands of this.

“Ah yes, the announcement. I totally forgot about that.” It was the truth. It was so annoying that they’d have to be there when it really was for the students more than them. Perhaps the Head wanted to flaunt whatever authority the board believed they possess. Or just wanted to show that this new one would do better than any others before. Whatever the reason, she just hoped the speech would be quick and that they could all leave afterwards.

She smirked at his comment about drink and age. “I’m afraid there isn’t much of that around. But I can get you water, unless you’re more of a milk person.” The smirk was still on as she said that. She had not met that many cats who enjoyed drinking milk, they all seemed to favor water, but it was so common to associate cats and milk that she did it. She looked at a table, hoping they were looking at the same one. “Sure. You want to try and stay alone while I get drinks or you’d rather join me?” After all, he called her because he didn’t want to stay alone with the kids anymore.

[Humphries]

Yes, the announcement. One of those fun little particulars that came with the job. Humphries would've sighed again if he'd been able. It was that detail which was keeping him here after all, very much against his will.

And with nothing to drink after all. He did have to look up at her as she mentioned milk. "That's racist," he informed her, knowing that the British voice from his collar made it sound all the more ironic. "It also happens to be relatively true, as there's something about milk that is quite appealing. I'd settle for water at this point," he turned to look around, taking note of the drinks they had available. Yes, water was definitely his best bet: he didn't want to think about what was in the punch.

The question had him looking back to Tamara. "Just get me situated in the middle of this table. It's unlikely they'll be too willing to lunge." He shuffled himself into position, pulling up into a supine position in the center of the table. His forelegs were tucked just slightly to his side, while his hind legs tucked under his body, the tail curling about. He didn't look entirely comfortable but, well, he wasn't. He gave Tamara a look and flicked his tail.

"Not to be rude, but if you would hurry, it would be appreciated. You work wonderfully as a deterrent to these... children."

[Tamara Sulik]

She rolled her eyes but also had a bit of a smile when Humphries called her comment racist. “Can something be true and racist at the same time?” She asked since he later added that there was something about milk that made him like it a lot. Water was the beverage of choice however. Tam thought about taking a Coke though. The sugar might help her get through the day.

As for Humphries, he chose to wait on the table, sitting in the middle of it, meaning to wait here for her to come back with the drinks. He even told her to be quick. This sounded like an order and once she was not sure to like too much. Tamara always found it hard to just obey like this but she tried to keep it to herself. He didn’t want to be alone and risk more kids to come to him to pet, feed or who knows what else. “I’m not sure how I should take this but you got it,” she said. Was she really a child deterrent? No way. It was just that they never seen a talking cat, a real one that is, and they couldn’t help being all over Humphries. Cats were cute. You could pet them. And this one talked. But Tamara was not chasing the kids away. She could be nice and friendly and they were not afraid of her. Were they? Oh sure, she wanted to make sure her authority was not defied by them and it might mean she had to be a little hard, and she might be a tad grumpy at times, but she was totally awesome to be around and they were not scared to go and talk to her if there was a problem. Right?

As she picked the beverages for them, and a bowl since she didn’t think Humphries could simply drink from the water bottle, she groaned. That cat was giving her a headache with all of this thinking. She grabbed everything and returned to the table. She poured some of the water in the bowl for Humphries before sitting down and taking care of her Coke.

[Humphries]

"Yes, it happens all the time, especially with me," Humphries admitted. He flicked his tail again. Crass? Perhaps, but he was feeling more than a little irritated right now. He had to keep reminding himself that Tamara happened to be an ally of sorts, one of the few humans around here that he could actually tolerate and somewhat liked. which was why he'd gone so far as to actually ask her instead of ordering.

"Take it as a friend's request," the cat offered. He was tempted to add something snotty about how that being what he'd meant. He could practically feel the tension coming from the woman but, well, he could also suppose that this whole event added to that. There was a decided unpleasantness about everything that Humphries would be more than willing to put past him. It was all part of work, and there were always things you'd have to do that you didn't like.

While Tamara was away, Humphries fended for himself. This mostly involved staring down a few people and enduring at least one family's attempts to take his picture. The cat found himself effectively posing regardless of his unfriendly demeanor.

At least Tamara returned, and Humphries was almost relieved to see the bowl. "Thank you for the consideration," he said, raising a paw and batting toward it. The bowl lowered and Humphries wasted no time in looming over it to start licking. Though he did use his device at the same time, if slightly garbled because of his tongue's movements: "I can drink out of cups as well, if you are feeling a little uncomfortable about things. You always seem to be uncertain as to whether or not to treat me as an animal or a colleague. Fall more on the latter, but simply consider my form as a... disability of sorts," Humphries had to purr at that, pulling up slightly, his tongue flicking out to catch the bits of moisture that gathered there as he looked up at Tamara. Yes, he knew full well that dealing with him was something of a trial, but it was one he hoped he could convince her to at least partially endure.

[Tamara Sulik]

If he said so, it had to be right. Tamara had not dealt so much about racist comments than sexist ones. They could be just as annoying but it was not quite the same. Of course, since almost everyone around here seemed to believe she was American, she was now but that was not the point, she rarely got comments on that regard. Despite her last name, she rarely had people asking where she was from. She liked it like that.

Humphries had to be careful with her. It wouldn’t be hard for Tamara to just get up and leave. If she did that, he’d be sorry. Not only that would mean kids right now would go back to torturing him a little further, but that could also mean no longer having someone to open the dorm of the dorm for him, no one checking whatever information he wanted, no one to open bottles and serve him food. Oh, true, he was apparently human, but she never actually saw that human form of his. Only this one. Who knows, he might even be trapped like this now. Why couldn’t it happen, when some students did have features that stayed on despite their best efforts to hide their mutation? Tamara did not take crap, at least not for long before being done with someone. Humphries better not forget that.

Of course, she did not really dislike the cat and might still go back to helping him after a time. But she could also very easily leave him alone today to deal with everyone. Have the student try to get over the fact they had a cat as staff member, see how they’d react to it. The fact he thanked her for the bowl helped wash away whatever feeling she might have grown against him. This day was not great for either of them. She startled a bit when he pointed out that she was sometimes uncertain around him. Of course, it had to be apparent at times, right? “It’s ok. I figured a bowl would be easier for you,” she assured him, not feeling to add anything to it. “Sorry if it shows sometimes it’s just... some reactions of yours are more that of a cat, or more appropriate because you are one. Still, I’d say we’ve gotten a long way since our first meeting, no?” She did her best to consider him a colleague. But she certainly wouldn’t let a colleague brush against her legs or come as close as he would sometimes. Let alone carry them around if need be. “It’s when I have to treat you like a cat when I’m thinking of you as a colleague that it’s hard. But it’s alright. If there’s one thing to say about me, it’s that I can adapt to anything.” She at least liked to think so.

[Humphries]

Humphries nodded slightly as Tamara pointed out the ease of drinking out of a bowl. There was no point in pretending otherwise: bowls were simply easier for him to deal with in that regard. She knew it; he knew it. So they could acknowledge the point and move on. He took another sip while she continued, pointing out his eccentricities. Again, it was hardly as if he wasn't fully aware.

"You have," he agreed, nodding again, "and you've proven yourself to be remarkably adaptable. If I didn't actually respect you and value your opinion as a colleague, I would simply order or bully you about, or possibly ignore you altogether. As it stands, you're one of the few people here whose company I actually find enjoyable. Hence the frustrations when you act as if I'm some sort of anomaly."

Humphries rose up then, walking a little to look up at her, tilting his head slightly. "Were I in a wheelchair instead of in a cat's body, would you feel awkward about talking about walking? Or if I were naturally mute and required this device to speak," Humphries stretched then, before circling back to the bowl. His tail flicked slightly and he did find his head tilting slightly, a noise catching his attention. The feline in him wanted nothing so much as to go running under a table: this whole event was just one long drain on his thinking mind and its resources. This doubtless explained his shortness with the woman he actually respected but, well, he wasn't about to admit it. It did, however, show as he kept shifting and looking around, clearly tense.

[Tamara Sulik]

Tamara liked to pretend she didn’t need the praise of anyone, let alone a man and even less one in a cat suit, to feel like she was doing a good job. Yet it pleased her to hear that someone respected her and acknowledged her place within the school. Unlike many of the staff here, she did not choose to work at Bellefonte to be with mutants and help them out. She could just as easily work in a bar, a restaurant or try to find some more respectable job around town. Or in another, busier one. She chose it because there was an opening and it was convenient. And, a little, because she had the vain hope of seeing her son studying here someday. But she was certain she could leave without too much of a regret.

She got the message Humphries was trying to send her or at least she believed she did. It was still a little surprising to hear she was amongst the (privileged?) few he appreciated the company of. But she got he did not say that only to praise her. “Right. Sorry about that.” Tamara was not snob enough not to apologize when she believed that she had to. In this case, she felt like she should. There was little else she believed she could say, other than promise she would try not to let it happen again. Promising more would be impossible. She was certain that, at some point, something would turn up to make her wonder how she has to react around him.

He suggested she saw this as a form of handicap instead. This could work but she still had to correct him on some points. “I would not but if you were in a wheelchair and rolled on my foot, I’d curse at you, something I don’t do if the ‘cat’ part of you shows up and you make me react like I might not do with any other colleague.” The rubbing against her legs for example or catching him from whatever tight spot he got in, usually high above the ground too.

Humphries seemed to pay less attention on her all of a sudden and she frowned as she noticed him staring at different people. There was something in his gaze, an intensity that got her intrigued. “What is it?”