Participants:
| Scene Title | Notre Chat |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Robyn and Valerie bond over the shared custody of the cat recovered from Manhattan. |
| Date | May 14, 2018 |
Raytech NYC-HQ
Trips to the Raytech-NYC HQ are not something that Robyn Quinn ever imagined would become a regular occurrence for her - hell, this time last year she can't even remember if she'd heard the name "Raytech" yet or not. It had been luck that it had turned out to be run by an old acquaintance turned friend and a family that she didn't realize she was already at least somewhat familiar with.
Even then, being at the actual building had felt off to her, given her line of work and the fact that the corporate world really wasn't her scene. Friendships should be built outside of places of work unless they involve co-workers or old friends, rather than in places that have the monolithic world of work trying to break desperately through the door that escapism resides behind.
But, as of late, all of that has fallen away. Robyn has come to quite like the Raytech building, the few people she's had the pleasure of meeting, the friends she comes to see. This afternoon is a bit different, though. Today, she's dressed not in something resembling her the professional attire she'd wear to work, or even after work, or- in a lot of places in her life. Today she is much more casually dressed, in a knee-length black dress, ruffled at the end and with lace sleeves despite the slightly cool air outside, and leggings to match. Her usual black eyeband is pulled across her right eye, overlapping with her scar slightly, but today she has small, black flower slipped behind her opposite ear as a form of offsetting and accenting it.
Today she's here to see two acquaintances - a cat and her owner. She did, after all, have visitation rights with Geiger. It was about time she put them to use. One may be an excuse to see the other, but…
Well.
She hasn't figured out if that's the case, or which way that works yet. She'll worry about that when she actually finds one of them.
Even with certain situations that had occured recently, the front desk had been told that Robyn Quinn could come up whenever she visited during regular office hours. It had been part of the joint custody when they talked about who would keep fluffy Geiger, named for the fact that they’d used the counter on her just in case there had been something wrong with the somewhat feral calico.
After some quick directions, she’s told to go to one of the conference rooms, one with a voice activated door as well as a doorknob. It’s unlocked at the moment, though, as a voice can be heard from inside. “Over here— “ the soft voice says, a hint of that sound people sometimes have when they’re talking to pets or children. Which kind of is what’s happening at the moment. Instead of sitting around talking to people presenting her with ideas as she sometimes is on days like today, Valerie happens to be playing with the fluffy cat, who is less fluffy right now.
Apparently, one of the first things they did was give the cat’s fur a trim, shaving her close in many places. They had to, to get the matting out. A little mane still surrounds her face, giving her a lion-like appearance as she bounces across the room toward a toy that the blonde young woman had been dangling from her hand. A toy that wasn’t actually there—
A toy that she literally jumped right through and turned in frustration to bat at it again. Yes, Valerie is essentially a human laser pointer.
But most importantly, she also happens to be in full blinding color. Dressed in yellow and white at the moment, the color stands out rather than bleeding into a gray like it would if she were actually physically there in normal attire.
"Oh my gosh, Geiger, what did they do to you?" are the first words out of Robyn's mouth as she steps into the conference room and sees that delightful cat, a thousand percent less floofy than she was the last time Robyn had seen the cat. She watches as she jumps through the toy, laughing softly and shaking her head before she looks up at Valerie and-
Colour.
For someone who used to see everything in rich, vivid colour, the sight of it now is still something that's so hard for her to adjust to. To swallow. It had led to a lot of staring when they'd been Manhattan - though, unlike instances with Colette, at least Robyn had understood that this was a byproduct of the mental affecting nature of Valerie's projections - her mind still perceived and understood colour, even if her eyes no longer naturally processed that information anymore.
That doesn't make it any less distracting, and just like before it results in a long moment of staring. It also comes with the realization that Valerie isn't actually there. Still, after a moment she blinks and shakes her head, before offering a smile up to the other woman. "That is the most unique way to entertain a cat," she remarks amusedly. "It's a shame they can't market you, Valerie. I bet they'd make millions."
And rather than dwell on that comment that somehow manages not to parse as awkward, she gives a slight incline of her head. "It's good to see you again. Looks like me wanting to come by didn't pull you out of anything too serious…" Which is good for her. She hates pulling people away when they have something more important to do.
“Robyn!” Valerie exclaims in an excited manner once she sees the woman again. Almost immediately she swaps her tether from the mind of someone an office away and not even in the room to the woman who’s looking at her now. She still wishes she could tether to an animal, but the animal mind, while able to perceive her, didn’t seem capable of acting as an anchor to keep her there. Swapping tethers isn’t obvious, but her image did flicker for an instant before sliding back into place.
“I expect that Warren has tried to come up with some way to mass-market my ability, but since machines can’t sense me it’s probably especially difficult.” She did wonder if a technopath would still be able to see her through a machine, but she hasn’t had the opportunity to test that theory.
Looking down at Geiger, who keeps trying to jump at her image even when she’s jumping through it, she grins. “Yeah, we had to give her a trim. She had so many mats that brushing them out was impossible. But we won’t let her get that bad, will we, Geigy?” she teases, bending down so that she’s closer to the cat’s level. “She’s still settling in, but she’s learning to get used to people. I don’t think she’d been around them very much.” But she also wasn’t as feral as they probably would have expected.
"Warren?" It takes Robyn a moment to process the name, one she has only heard a handful of times in recent memory. "Oh right! Your brother." She offers a small chuckle, looking up from Geiger back to Valerie again - just in time to catch the flicker, though she hasn't quite figured out what it means yet. "No one ever seems inclined to tell me much about him," she admits, "other than that he's a bit of a mad scientist." And even with that little bit of context, the idea of replicating Valerie's ability makes perfect sense.
Walking her way across the room towards both the people she's come here to see tonight, she offers a smile down towards to Geiger. "Step one, get pulled from a post-apocalyptic hellscape." She holds up a single finger, now turning her attention to Valerie. "Step two, get a haircut." A second finger." Step three is anyone's guess, but it ends with step four: receive all the love in the world." And as she kneels down to Geiger, tentatively offering out her open hand, she clearly intends to give the cat exactly that.
"How have you been?" Is offered in turn to her host. A lingering glance up to Valerie, a smile. "I'm sorry I haven't been around much since Manhattan. I never thought I'd miss New York as much as I do once I started going up to Rochester, but…" A small shrug still crouched down and barely keeping her balance.
“The mad scientist works. He’s keeping the Detroit HQ going while we’re working here, with his wife, Elle.” Valerie responds with a grin, looking as if she might be bouncing, but it’s hard to have that visual correct when she’s not actually there to do it. She gives off the impression, though.
All the love in the world. The blonde girl can’t help but smile as the cat gets her pets on, moving closer to rub her face all over the hand offered, padding around to make sure that she is pet exactly how she wants to be. There’s something demanding about it, even.
“I’m good. Got a lot of work still, but I finished and let Geiger chase me down here for fun.” From her office. Which she never actually left. It gave the cat some exercise, at the least. “She’s doing pretty well. Totally spoiled. She’ll get fat if we’re not careful because she eats as if each meal will be the only one she’ll ever get.” And back in the rubble of the city, whatever meal she’d gotten might have seemed like it. Now that she’s shaved and being petted, it’s easier to feel and see how thin she happens to be. Even if her belly is now decidedly full.
"That's right, Elle. Richard had mentioned that." Robyn shakes her head at the thought of the electrokinetic, but says nothing more on the matter - any grudge there remains long buried. As Geiger nuzzles her hand and pads around brushing against her fingers, she can't help but smile. In fact, her smile grows wider and wider with each moment that she's in contact with the cat. It's clear that she's enjoying this as much as she could anything else.
"I haven't had a cat in years," she admits. Not that Geiger is hers - joint custody, etc, etc. "I forgot how wonderful they are." She can't help but think of Schrodinger in this moment, the cat that had long passed on from her to a new owner. As Geiger looks back up at her, Robyn brings both hands up to the cat's mane-covered neck and begins to scratch with all ten of her fingers, producing a loud, rhythmic purring from the once-fluffy cat. "Look at you," she says to the calico, an uncharacteristic giggle escaping from the normally composed SESA agent. "Living it up now, your little adorable self."
She doesn't miss Valerie's apparent excitement, though, casting a glance marked with a sheepish grin up to the other woman. If it wasn't for the colour she appears in, Robyn wouldn't even notice that she isn't technically there - not that she cares either way. "Well, I think our little new friend here is destined to be a princess," she offers, still scritching the animal, "so maybe she deserves to get a little fat."
With that, she looks back up to Valerie. "So. One brother's a mad scientist, and the other is- also kind of a mad scientist," is offered humourously, maybe with a bit of a tease. She stands up straight again, keeping a hand out for Geiger to continue rubbing against. "I'm sure they keep things interesting. Must make everyday life seem a bit mundane sometimes."
“Richard’s not mad, but he is a bit eccentric,” Valerie grins, bending over so that she’s closer to cat level, even if she can’t give scritches in this form. Not if she wanted to spend more time like this, at least. “But I like the idea of Princess Geiger. A little bit of a bad ass, surviving the apocalypse in a walled-in broken city. But instead of making her mean and hateful of people, it made her the sweetest cat in the whole world.”
Cause she thinks Geiger is much friendlier than Richard’s cat. Though she would never say that to Richard’s face.
But really, what were the odds that they would find a cat in the middle of nowhere who happened to be nice, friendly, and not at all aggressive. “She doesn’t even hiss at Richelieu, even when he deserves it.” After a moment she added on a hint to who she might mean, “That’s Richard’s cat. He’s a kitten, so— but he’s really cute.” Looking back down at the calico she adds, as if she could understand, “But not as cute as you!”
Robyn's smile in response is rather cheshire, canting her head slightly askew. "Why, thank you, that's-" She lets out a faux exasperated sigh, letting a look of mock disappoint sit on her face. "Oh, you mean Geiger." She laughs, shaking her head. "Ah, but I agree with you. Notre chat est très mignon!" She looks back up to Valerie, grinning. "I love calicos. Looks so… unique. Hope Geiger looks half as good as she managed to when we found her."
She accentuates this by leaning back down, and taking both hands to scritching at Geiger's pseudo-mane.
"Well, at least Geiger has a friend. Rival, more like." Robyn is quick to move on from her earlier comment, moving to sit on the floor at the edge of the table crossing her legs as she motions to Geiger. "Has anyone taken to holding her yet? I'd hate to leave with scratches up my arm." As she settles into her perch, she taps her hand on her lap twice, inviting the cat to come and sit.
"Princess Geiger," is repeated with amusement. "Do you theme the conference rooms here? We do at SESA… unofficially. I feel that Geiger needs her own room if she's a Princess." She pulls her focus from the cat, though, to look back up to Valerie. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what kind of work did you manage to break away from to play with Geiger? I imagine whatever it was it can't be nearly as interesting."
“You hear that. You’re a princess,” Valerie says to the fluffy cat as if she could understand her. The poor thing can’t, of course, but it didn’t stop most pet owners from talking to their animals so why should it stop her? Not that she understood the French. She knew Japanese, but not French. Her father had picked much of her education for her, and French had not been one he deemed necessary, most likely.
“Oh— I’m the Chief Design Officer, which mostly means I handle all product design, including buildings and things like that. That’s our big project at the moment, the hydroponics garden. But the one who came up with the idea is handling most of it, so I just delegate, more or less. It’s a huge investment, and one I’m not sure will actually pay off unless we go against the original proposal and use the food to make a bigger profit.”
It sounded like she approved of the idea, but not the whole… way they’d gone about it. “I still think rooftop garden boxes we could sell would have been a better idea. We’re working on that, but the building and land purchase means we don’t have the funds to produce them in mass. Sorry, that’s probably more than you wanted to know,” she grins and shakes her head. “I’m sure you’re way busier than me, as a SESA Agent.”
Were Robyn more dressed for it, she would break her normally collected and serious presentation, and just lay down on the damn floor to play with the cat. She hasn't been able to do that in years, and the desire is strong. And even if she was dressed for it, she's not sure she could embarrass herself like that in front of Valerie.
"Not as busy as you might think, these days." But, Robyn has no plans on elaborating why that at the moment. "Depends on how crazy things get in the Safe Zone." She offers Valerie a small smile, pulling her attention from Geiger. "And thankfully, it was pretty calm here for a while." Though the two of them might have different definitions of "calm".
"CDO is a good title," she adds after a moment, her smile turning into a smirk. "It sounds important. Less likely to get dismissed than Agent Quinn." She shrugs jokingly at that observation. Deciding definitively not to climb her way on to the floor in the middle of a rather professional office environment, she instead reaches down and scoops Geiger up into her arms. And if she disagrees with it, well. She'd have to hope the lace sleeves were enough.
That she can scoop Geiger up into her arms makes Valerie smile. She can play with the cat all she wants, but she can’t actually touch her while she’s in this form. It isn’t that it bothers her, really, she just doesn’t feel like it’s the same.
But she also doesn’t feel she would play with Geiger how she wants if she were here in person, either. The cat could sit in her lap and play with her hands, but she could also get under her wheels or hurt or… she doesn’t let that thought carry too far, but something about her expression looks sad. For a moment. “Geiger likes you,” she responds after a moment, “And animals know, when people are good or not."
So in a way, she’s saying she thinks Robyn is a good person. Because Geiger says so.
Or because she believes it.
There’s a sigh as she stares off into the distance. “I have to go. Someone’s trying to wake me up.” Even though she’s not asleep at all. “Enjoy the rest of your play time, Geiger!” With that, the color and light that was Valerie vanished from the room as if it had never been there in the first place.