Never Again, Again

[Beau LaRoux]

There was a cat. Again. Beau saw it just sitting there, staring at him while he sat on the bench. He had his guitar out, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't be out for much longer, on account of his needing to get up off the bench and approach said cat. What was a feline doing out here in the park? Not to mention a pretty darn big one by Beau's estimation, and, sadly, he knew he was growing to be something of an amateur catologist, or whatever they were officially called.

sighing, Beau sat aside his guitar and bent down, gesturing toward the cat. It kept staring at him, clearly more insulted by his gesture than anything else. Beau sighed, then reached down into his pocket, rummaging around for a few moments. He eventually managed to produce a few cat treats that he'd purchased for exactly this sort of thing. He carefully held out his hand, treat on the palm. Sure enough, the cat pranced forward, leaning over to give Beau's hand a cautious sniff.

"Well, at least I know you ain't a cat-shifter," drawled Beau, smiling down at the feline. He hadn't felt the tingle at the touch and he didn't seem to be sprouting fur. Which meant that Beau had encountered someone's pet cat. Again. He tried to move to see if there was a collar or something, but he couldn't quite notice anything. Beau was about ready to reach out when he thought he hear a voice calling out for a "meow" or something. "Guess that's you, huh partner?" asked Beau, looking back to the cat. He smiled and me the cat's gaze, looking into its eyes.

And it stopped moving.

"What the hell?" said Beau. He prodded the cat, his eyes going wide. "Oh hell, did I jus' kill someone's cat? What kinda messed up power kills people by lookin' at 'em?" Beau was looking around, figuring that someone had to have drifted close. It was a little hard though, because Beau was definitely working hard to avoid any and all eye contact.

[Aeria Gonzalez]

"Meow!" Aeria yelled, beginning to get annoyed with the name she had chosen for the cat. It looked as if she were some crazy girl meowing at the world. Normally she wouldn't mind, but the cat had been prone to wandering off as of late, and the Blonde was seriously considering getting him a harness and leash, though she doubted that would ever work.

"Meow! C'mere kitty kitty!" But alas, nothing had happened. So she continued to look. The park wasn't that large, so she was bound to find him somewhere, right? Right? But luckily, after another few minutes, she managed to locate the maine coon, standing very still in front of boy. That was odd... Meow loved people, and would nuzzle up to anyone who showed him kindness. What was he doing?

"Here, kitty kitty?" She called again, walking up towards the two. But he wasn't moving, even then. That is, until he slumped over, giving a meow of protest. She quickly grabbed onto the cat and cradled him in her arms. "Uh, do you know what happened to him?" Aeria asked the boy in front of her. It almost seemed like he had been paralyzed, but that would mean he was a meta... it was possible, but with the same power as her? What were the odds?

[Beau LaRoux]

The voice got louder, and Beau hazarded a quick glance up. He figured that the girl coming toward him (and she was cute; he could see that even in a glance) had to be the mutant whose power he had borrowed to paralyze the cat. He already had an apology on his lips by the time she got there, though it tumbled away to nothing as she spoke instead. He looked down at the cat, feeling downright sheepish now.

"I, uh, looked at him?" he asked. He hesitated for a moment. He was near the academy, sure, but not on the academy grounds. The girl might very well be the mutant whose powers Beau had borrowed, or she might just be a random girl. For all he knew, the mutant could be hiding in the shadows somewhere or had just passed by at the outside range of Beau's powers. He couldn't give away anything, and part of him really didn't want to. He prodded the cat instead, feeling its stiffness, which contrasted sharply with the warmth he could still feel from the feline.

"I think he's okay, except, y'know, paralyzed," he offered, shrugging. He looked up, careful to sort of look at a space over the girl's shoulders, catching her face only out of his peripheral vision. "Uh, is he yours or somethin'?" It did make sense, what with her calling out kitty kitty, but again: Beau couldn't be certain. He shifted, feeling that this whole situation was about two shades of awkward more than he really cared for.

[Aeria Gonzalez]

The cat was definitely paralyzed, but it was clearly used to the sensation. He didn't attempt to meow, and as his body 'woke up', he simply relaxed in her arms. Aeria raised a brow, eyeing the boy out of curiosity. It wasn't common to find someone with the same power, and then the same application? Practically unheard of. So she had to ask.

"What is your power? Paralysis Inducement?"

She had a feeling it wasn't, but it didn't quite matter to her. Whatever power he had, she knew he did have one. Nobody was just able to stun her cat without an explanation why. Her gaze softened and her lips tipped upward into a reassuring smile as the cat started to bat at her arms, and she dropped him. She looked down and found her furry companion curling up by her feet, taking a much needed nap.

"Don't worry, I'm not some anti-meta or ignorant normal person. I go to Bellefonte."

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau blinked up at the girl, still looking mostly over her shoulder, as she flatout asked him what his power was. He checked over his shoulder, then did a quick look around, just to make sure. Nobody jumped out of the shadows and there didn't appear to be anyone else nearby, so Beau guessed it must've been okay to talk about the whole being a mutant thing.

"Figured you must go to the school if that's comin' outta yer mouth," drawled Beau nodding to the girl. he sighed, rising up fully and dusting himself off. The cat appeared to be in its owner's arms and more or less back to normal, so Beau figured he didn't have to worry too much about it. "an' my power is that I pick up other mutants' powers. So I'm guessin' that somebody near here has some kinda paralysis thing," and man, did Beau ever butcher the heck out of the ability name. He rubbed the back of his neck and stared down at the cat. At least the critter looked pretty much fine.

"an' I go to Bellefonte too," he added, nodding in the right general direction. "Been goin' for a few years now, give or take."

[Aeria Gonzalez]

Aeria could definitely see why he had managed to paralyze her cat now; he had acquired her power due to his own. That must be severely confusing to have to deal with, especially when you are in a class filled with meta's all around you.

"Ahhhh," She started, nudging the cat very gently with her foot. He shifted, putting all his weight on her foot and mewling in lazy protest. Aeria chuckled softly. "It's from me. I highly encourage you avoid eye contact as much as possible. It might seem weird, but if you can't control it, that's what's gonna get people dropping igual moscas."

She sometimes did that, stemming from her roots. She was partially Cuban, after all. "Sorry, I mean like flies." Most people were stunned to see her speaking Spanish. Aeria just didn't have the 'look'. It was a sad thing, really.

"But yeah, my power has nothing to do with physical contact, and my poor kitty is so used to this happening, he really could care less about it. So I doubt there's any hard feelings," The blonde gave him a laugh and smile.

[Beau LaRoux]

The shifting cat caught Beau's attention, and he looked down, mildly surprised to see that the critter didn't seem all that put out by his recent stiffening. Beau supposed that if your owner could paralyze you just by looking at you the wrong way, then you'd get used to being paralyzed fairly often. Then again, the critter was a cat; who knew what was going on in the minds of those animals.

Beau ended up nodding as Aeria mentioned the eye contact thing. "Kinda figured. that's why I've been lookin' more or less over your shoulder," he pointed in said direction, then let out a breath, chuckling. He noticed the little bit of Spanish or whatever, and he blinked at it. He'd run into people that sometimes slid other languages into their English and stuff, but they usually, well, they looked different. Beau supposed that the pretty blonde could've been adopted or something; wasn't like he had her family history sitting out in front of him or something.

He dusted himself off again, then reached over and gave the cat a little scratch on the head. "Glad to hear it. Guess I kinda helped ya find him too, though I don't know why he'd have run away from a pretty owner like you," he gave a wink in her general direction, then tried altering where he scratched, trying to find the best spot for the animal. "Don't suppose you jus' got done paralyzin' him a few too many times? 'course I don't see how that would be all that different for most cats I know." Though he did seem to keep running into more rambunctious ones around here, that was for sure.