Welcome to Gaia! ::

Nibs had not shown up for breakfast that day.

Sue was understandably worried. With a coyote or some other bigger predator on the loose, the last thing that he needed was for one of his cats to vanish on him. Oh sure, it was normal for that to happen every now and again - Bartholomew went off on quests of romance from time to time, and Mackie occasionally kept away from a meal, just to assert that he was only there because he wanted to be. But Nibs? Poor, sweet, tiny Nibs, she'd never stayed away from a meal, not since Sue had earned her trust. What had happened to her?

A round of questioning turned up no answers. Mackie had not seen her since last night; Bartholomew had been keeping to his own business in town; Stripey just didn't care, so long as there was food in front of her. Sue tried not to look troubled by this lack of revelation, but he couldn't help it. He was going to be sick from worry if he couldn't find some trace of his most vulnerable charge soon!

Just as he'd made up his mind to mount a search, however, there was a slight rustle from one of the bushes. "Nibs?" Sue called out, wary after the events of the previous day. But this was no monster coyote lurking about; a delicate little face poked out shyly from the bushes, one-eyed and stout. That little bit of breath Sue had been holding let out. "Cripes! There you are, you little brat! Come and get your meal already!"

The feral wasn't going for it, though. There was something about her manner that implied fear, even to the casual onlooker, and a growling mewl confirmed this. Something was about, she was saying; something was creeping nearby....

Grace, Sue did not have. Nerves, he did.

"GGGH-GOD!" CRUNSH, he went toppling right into the bushes in his super-haste to both stand, turn, and retreat from the source of the noise. Nibs scattered several yards away, her eyes wide and pupils narrow, growling nervously at the general atmosphere before spitting a hiss, remarkably like a human might say "oh ******** it," and dashing away.

And it was only then that Sue realized, he'd gotten all worked up over one of the physco drama kids. And though he tried, calling after Nibs did nothing to dissuade the feral from her retreat - she was long gone.

Choking on an errant leaf, flicking dew off his fingertips, Sue fought his way out of the bushes, yanking small sticks off his clothing and hurling them to the ground in disgusted anger. "What, in God's name, are you doing." He might have shouted the question, but it was beyond the point - he didn't need to prove he was angry, there were practically stormclouds and thunder gathering over his head!

And TOPPING the list of "101 Ways Not to Endear Yourself to Sue": Making any implications that he was bad for a cat.

Seriously. It even scored above making a pass on his mom.

"Her name is Nibs, and she was too scared to come eat with you sneaking about," Sue spat, drawing several furious paces closer. "What the hell're you thinking, spying on me? Shouldn't you be circlejerking with your stage buddies for an audience somewhere?" In case anyone ever had any doubts: Sue was not impressed by performance art. At all. There were things that meant more, and the way that people's priorities twisted once a spotlight beamed down on them was downright sickening.

A thought occurred to Sue, and he crossed his arms disapprovingly. "This isn't about Evie, is it?" That'd be just like her, to go wailing around about ohhh mean Sue said this mean thing, ohhhh my feelings are so wounded, THE PAIN IT IS TOO MUCH I MUST DRAMATICALLY DISSOLVE INTO TEARS NOW. And now her macho theatre buddy was trying to teach Sue a lesson? Well boooooy, he was about to have a thing or two coming to him!

Mason had been watching him every... single... morning?

Sue didn't catch too much of his prattle after that. He was too busy staring, listening to the hot blood rushing in his ears. Character study, he'd gotten that - but what it meant to him and what it meant to Mason were two very, very different things.

"I'm not a god-damned TV show!" he screeched at last, eyes nearly bulging out of his head. He started waving his arms around in wild, vaguely threatening motions. The rest of the felines, finished with their meal, moved in to watch with interest. "And neither are the danged cats! Good God, do you know how many weeks it took me to get Nibs to trust coming this far on-campus to get fed? Do you have any clue? It's not god-damned magic, you know!" Well, okay, maybe in part. Whatever it was that let him talk with them, anyway -- but that was beside the point!

On the bright side, Sue was fairly certain that all his posturing and anger would turn the topic of conversation away from the things he may or may not have said to Evie. Not saying that he'd said anything. Just that he'd rather talk about why Mason was a ******** got half a mind to break that nose of yours," Sue sneered. "Maybe then you won't keep stickin' it where it doesn't belong!"

"Well gee, in that case, I ought to throw in a black eye while I'm at it," Sue snarled, advancing to keep the space between them constant. "You theatre folk like it when you get special attention like that, after all, don't cha?" The fact that Sue had tried out for the play as well, of course, made Mason's claim all the less impressive. If they let people like him in, than damn near anybody could have an audition without it meaning anything!

But there was something that held Sue back from charging forward to give Mason the pounding he deserved for distressing poor Nibs. Pity, most likely. Either that or he was just enjoying watching the boy squirm.

"You know what? Tell you what." Sue's eyes gleamed, seeing a possibility. "Maybe if you do something for me, I'll let you off the hook this once. You're in those acting circles, so you gotta know the folk there. What's your feelings on Trace?"

Mason was twisting, he was squirming - but oh! The grab for the bait, the hook set at last. He'd seen the way out, and Sue just had to reel in it properly. His eyes flickered over to the lingering cats, and his jaw set. Sue's full attention returned to Mason.

"Nothing bad," he rumbled. "Here's what it is: Trace's my neighbor. Can't say I care for him, and he sure as hell doesn't for me. Now, somebody's been complaining to the teachers about how I keep my room--" smells like kitty litter, Sue recalled the phrase being, "and it's causing trouble. Now, I'm not breaking any of the rules, but with the amount of whining that's been going on, I'm getting the admins down on my head all the time. It's gotta be one of the neighbors, but I don't know which."

"So." Sue crossed his arms. "You go and you talk to Trace for me. You come back, and you tell me if it's him. If you promise to do that, our little problem here? Never happened. Hell, if it is him complaining, and if you can get him to cut it out, well...." The dark-haired boy shifted his weight uncomfortably, chewed on the inside of his lip. "Tell you what, you do that, and I'll even help you with your character whatevers. Okay? How's that strike you?"

All? Was Mason kidding? Sue was sentencing him to an entire conversation with Trace. There was nothing worse that the boy could do to him!

It seemed that Mason was going for it, though, and Sue let out a little breath of relief. "Yeah, that's all," he confirmed. "You do that for me, hell... more than even." In Sue's head was a happier world, where he could sneak cats into his room without fear of any more of those damn "surprise" inspections. It wasn't one he could get on his own - God knew that try as he might, every time he tried talking to Trace, he came bare inches away from a fistfight and getting one or the other of them expelled! But if Mason was able to do it....

"We got ourselves a deal?"

Now there was truth if ever there was one. The only thing that had ever dragged Sue into the auditorium had been his mother's bitchy demands that he rehearse for the school play - and rehearsal behind him, secure in the certainty that no teacher in their right mind would ever give him a part, Sue was certain he would not be forced into that room again.

"Yeah. See you." Letting the theatard go without another word, Sue turned his attention back to more important things. The cats, having witnessed the conflict, were now waiting expectantly to know what it had been about, and if Sue had been victorious. It would be a long time in the explaining, and Sue would have to embellish a fair bit of it to get the meaning across, but the cats were sure to enjoy the effort.