Welcome to Gaia! ::

The night started out comfortable, curled nose to tail under Ever’s chin, a fluffy ball of pseudo cat, contented and warm half under the blankets. It was a fine idea, and had worked for the several nights previous, except that this evening he stopped being a cat. Subsequently, he no longer fit on the bed. The change woke him just enough that he realized gravity had taken hold, but not with enough time to do anything about it, bruised bottom and dignity were the result.

“GodMotherDamnitHELLsbells” He swore rubbing at his bruised dignity. At least he was human again but, his bottom hurt, his mouth tasted like tuna and Ever had sprawled in a manner that would have fit the idea that Ever had been the one a cat just moments before. Damned bed, maybe Ever had a point about needing a bigger one, it wasn’t like… well. He tried to quash the thought as dangerous but it lingered, persistent.

Some things didn’t change between human and cat, like the ‘I absolutely knew that was going to happen and meant to do that’ kind of demeanor he took as he stripped out of the sneakers and jeans he’d been wearing before he turned into a cat, so that he could put on proper pajamas. Other things might be more surprising. “Points for not laughing about that.” He said trying to sound at least slightly dignified. Though he did appear to be rather savoring having hands again, flexing them and watching the fingers move for a moment as though he half expected to turn back into a cat again.

He glanced at the old twin sized he’d just fallen off of and then at Ever with a considering look. “We kind of do need something bigger.” He said after a moment’s hesitation. He tugged on a t-shirt, feeling the chill of the apartment a little more having just lost a full fur coat, part of which was still clinging to the sheets. “Man I shed a lot as a cat.”

“I remain without a single clue, as loath as I am to admit that.” He replied with a small shrug. “I didn’t even feel any kind of energy wave this time, though I may have missed it being as I more or less woke up when I hit the floor, as for what caused it, nothing new in the realm of ideas I’m afraid… not that being human again is going to stop me from looking. Damned if I’m going to EVER let that happen again.” He gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes his mind starting to wander towards ways that they could have some kind of ‘revenge’, was there anything to be done though when they didn’t even know what started the problem.

A small pause as another thought snuck in, a life long paranoia was hard to eliminate. “Unless you preferred the cat.” He said trying to make it a tease. “I don’t think I.” he hesitated and changed his choice of words. “We, can afford one, and I’m not adopting Hiro.”

“Depends on the cat though doesn’t it? We don’t need another anyone in this flat who’s not ah, well fixed for a change.” He stared at his own feet before adding a slight cranky. “I reek of tuna, maybe I should shower before I crash again.” He sighed trying not to put to much into small gestures but unthinking reached to tussle Ever’s hair.

“Other one, OH HER…” He laughed “Yeah, no I think she’s taken a fancy to someone else I recruited, uh, Falco, old Shop teacher at Hillworth.” He shrugged slightly and looked thoughtful.

“We’re defiantly going to need a bigger bed.” He said again and shook his head, the affording it was the problem though. He didn’t just want to –steal the damned thing, he’d done that for scraps of money before but somehow furniture was different, kind of like his violin. Maybe he could get back what he’d put down on the instrument such as it was for a mattress.

“You could do better than minimum wage at the library…” it was a distracted thought not a judgmental one, numbers crunching behind his eyes not pressure. “Though I don’t know if we can FIT anything really sizable in here.”

“You look amazingly panicked over something that can’t be worse than what you already do in the Dark Kingdom, I mean just –try- not working for Metallia.” He said with a small laugh pushed into his words though the humor wasn’t all there. He turned his cheek almost absently towards the hand that brushed it; closing is eyes at the light touch of the thumb brush. He opted not to push it just at the moment; his own stomach was doing the most curious knot.

“Well, if we sleep on the floor and I roll out of bed we know we have termite issues. For now, just scoot over a bit, I have to open the store tomorrow and make up for the time I spent with paws.” He brushed a hand over Ever’s arm, just to try and calm him down after the panic of being ‘tied’ into the ‘system’ and responsibility. “We’ll work it out.” He shrugged.

“So do that…” He said blinking at the simplicity of the idea; he didn’t understand why the rest would be so much trouble with those skills available. After all, life was using what you had and improving what you didn’t.

“Tutor French, you’d pretty much be able to set your own hours and make fun of people in a language their struggling to understand, and then you’d have even more practice to help you make fun of my apparently abysmal accent. What… you think I knew s**t about candy when I applied there? That’s half the reason I never told anyone, hey how’d you get that ridiculous burn on your wrist…oh that? That was just me fighting the fudge!” He said with a mocking tone creeping into his voice.

“You don’t.. .HAVE to but you should think about it.” He said and paused for a moment more. “If you do that, If you try it at least I’ll take the deposit I have for a new violin and I’ll get a decent bed that will fit two people. You’re mostly here anyhow and if nothing else its sprawl room so don’t get weird about it.” He said his voice hardening just a bit to guard him against offence as a paranoid reflex.

Zac made a small uncomfortable sound but otherwise said nothing about the rather tight grip around his ribs, the discomfort was palpable, and the tension rather alarming but he wasn’t sure what to say that would soothe that.

“I’ll ask around discretely, would that help?” He offered. “It’ll work out.” He added with perhaps more certainty than he felt. He put his own Hands over Ever’s enfolding arms and squeezed slightly, a backwards hug of sorts. He had to believe that it would, if for nothing more than a comfortable front of a civilian life.