om_main | Sharon and Paul B. (September 3)

Sharon talks to Apollo in the art room. She's very pleased to find a new ~~piece of furniture~~ friend.

Even though it wasn't the time for art class Sharon decided to pop into the art room. She liked the class and didn't think anyone would mind if she poked around the art supplies if she cleaned up. Maybe she'd make something for Steve. When she got to the room she saw that one of her classmates was already in there working. Sharon considered and then wandered over to him, peering as curiously at him as what he was working on. "Hi. Paul, yes?"

"Yeah," Paul said automatically, then dragged his attention away from the stubbornly malformed line on the paper in front of him to see who was speaking. Not very familiar, but the purple was pretty hard to forget, even in a school full of mutants, and he'd seen the girl around in class before. Even if he wasn't quite sure of her preferred medium, or her name. "Uh, sorry, I don't..."

"Sharon," she supplied. "Catseye." She crooked her tail in a small wave of greeting. "You're the sun Paul, yes?"

Tail, right. Cat. Paul broke into a smile at the wave, which was weirdly endearing, and lifted his (not too charcoal dusted) left hand to return it. "That's me. Flying, not eating, not sleeping, don't keep me in the dark Paul."

"Flying is awesome," Sharon said warmly. "You don't glow in the dark, do you?"

"Pretty sure I don't." And Midnighter would have said something if he did - that would have been a definite danger for stealth, though pretty handy for vision... "I don't see in the dark, either. Do you?"

Because, well, cat. Cat and catseye and cats had night vision, right?

"Yes. If there's any light at all." She flicked her tail dismissively. "Don't always need to see. Other ways to find things. People never see very well anyway." She leaned in closer, peering at his paper. "What are you making?"

"A mess," Paul said ruefully. "I dunno, maybe charcoal's just wrong for this, but I just wanna get one piece using it to work, yeah? I don't want to let it defeat me, but it's like, maybe this doesn't want to be charcoal. Maybe I should reverse it, go chalk or pastel on black paper."

"Steve likes charcoal," Sharon commented. Paul would know Steve from TAing their art class, but he might not know his relationship with Sharon. "Favorite. Watched him use, but never tried before. Full of shadow. Maybe you should start on black, fill the paper with light first."

"So I should ask Steve, is what you're saying?" Paul sat back with a grin, reaching for the rag to wipe charcoal dust from his fingers. "Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Like, moonlit. It's softer than black on white, right?"

Sharon considered what he was describing. "Would be interesting. Like finding the picture." She nodded. "And he knows more about art. I just like pretty things."

"That's what people say about sculpture, right, it's like finding the image inside the stone? Or the whatever?" Paul's grin widened. "Is that what you make, then? Pretty things?"

"Don't really know yet," she said. "Mostly doodle. Want to play with new things though." She pulled her phone out of the pocket of her dress and poked it for a moment before showing Paul a picture. It was mostly swirls of color, but there were also some shapes vaguely like paw prints. "Made with tablet. Tony made easier to use with paws."

Paul tilted his head to catch a better angle to see the screen, nodding appreciatively. "Is it different, what you make with paws to what you make with hands?"

Sharon laughed warmly. "Yes. Can't hold a pencil."

Paul laughed as well, shaking his head slightly. "Okay, yeah, I asked for that. I meant, though, if you see things differently, like colors, shapes?"

Sharon tilted her head. "I see the same." Her eyes, like her tail, stayed in every shape. She had no idea what it was like to see like people. "Always different, just not to me."

Paul nodded, thoughtful. "Do you want to make the same kind of art, then?"

"No idea," she said. "All very new! Do like color. But ink is pretty. Paint is messy, but fun to watch blur. Will have to try and find what's to like. "

"You can blur ink, too," Paul offered. "People do stuff with water and then put a bit of ink at one side of it and let it spread."

"Really?" Sharon asked curiously.

He nodded. "There's some stuff on the internet, videos of people doing it. Though... I guess you might be able to do it with your tail, as well as your hands?"

She smiled at that. "Will have to look at video! Can try. Sounds fun." She batted her tail lightly against his arm.

Paul laughed, slightly startled by the tail pat, but oddly charmed by it. "You'd have to wash the ink out of it after, though."

Sharon poked him again, lightly and curiously. "Very warm," she commented, distracted by the discovery. "Sun?"

"Sun," Paul agreed, smiling and holding an arm out for testing, if she wanted to. "I don't get cold any more. Apparently I run a bit hotter than baseline humans do."

Since he was offereing she reached over and put her hand on his arm. She gave a very pleased purr before petting him. "Mrrrm. Nice. Okay with cats? Maybe in winter? Make good accessory. Very nice scarf or pillow," she said with a grin.

Paul laughed, head tilting and eyes narrowing in pleasure at the petting. "Yeah, I'm good with cats. I'm pretty sure my roommate isn't allergic or anything."

She moved closer, petting his shoulder with her tail as well, testing how okay he was with someone new in his space. If she wasn't shaped like a girl right then, and was already full cat, she would have climbed on him and started snuggling immediatly. "Good. Will find you. Like new friends, especially warm ones. New furniture always welcome."

Hesitant, but not too tense. More cautious than anything else, unused to anyone except Midnighter getting closer, but he hadn't seen anything to make him think Sharon was any kind of threat. Midnighter would probably disagree with that, too. "Furniture?"

"Someone to climb and sleep on," she explained. She let her hand drop back down but traced down his arm with her tail, giving his wrist a slight squeeze with the end of it before releasing. "Like a warm patch of sunlight and chair in one. Best."

Paul laughed, adjusting to the new, not-unpleasant feeling of tail running along his arm. "Okay, I guess I can get that. Just give me some warning or something before jumping? I've been doing a lot of training with Midnighter, my reflexes are pretty fast and mostly defensive."

"Will get your attention," she promised.

"Before jumping," Paul insisted. "Please? I don't want to hurt you by accident."

She held up her hand, making sure he saw before she took and squeezed his hand. "Promise. If you hear loud meowing, look for purple cat. Consider invitation to pick me up if don't want to be jumped on."

Paul nodded, smiling relief. "Yeah, I can do that. Strength is another thing I do so I promise that's not gonna be a problem."

"Oh?" Her smiled went teasing again. "Can be a small purple cat, and a BIG purple cat. But wouldn't fit on your lap as a big cat so maybe won't go pawing you like that. Wouldn't be as cozy."

"I could lift you as a big cat, but I couldn't be furniture for one," Paul agreed. "So maybe small is better, at least for that."

"Look forward," she told him.

"I will," Paul promised.

Sharon smiled happily and gave him one more affectionate nudge with her tail. "Going to poke through art things. If have questions, can help maybe? Might make something."

"Sure." The tail thing was still weird, but not as weird as it might have been. It was even kind of nice. "Just shout up if you want me, yeah?"

"Will," she said with a warm smile. She went to poke through the art supplies, tail swishing happily.