[Evelyn Winters]

Cat didn’t like the city. All these buildings without bark for his claws to dig in to, all these people around to piss him off. Well maybe he liked that part, he always seemed to get some kind of power trip when he scared people off with his harsh growls and ear splitting hiss (his clipped ear and numerous scars made this even more effective). Still, he always seemed agitated in the city, he obviously preferred the comfort of the wilderness. Yet, he follows Evelyn into the city nearly every time she goes. It makes her smile on the inside, and on the outside too, when people can’t see.

It was slightly overcast, and the sun was gently peeking through the slowly growing cracks in the clouds. She walked with her head down, hood up, but with confidence. Cat trailed behind her, beside her, sometimes in front of her, pausing to hiss at any passersby. He would sometimes get distracted with a bug, deftly snatch it, eat it up, and catch back up with her.

Eventually, she came across a quaint little bench sitting under the comfortable shade of a tree upon which sat a little old lady with her glasses scrutinizing the daily crossword, mindlessly throwing seeds from a paper bag to a group of pigeons. Evelyn smirked inwardly, and sat down beside her. The woman glanced sideways at Evelyn. She did a double take when she saw her face, but she didn’t say anything.

“Amrita.” She said after a moment of silence.

“Huh?” Asked the old woman.

“Thirty-nine across, Hindu beverage of immortality, amrita.”

“Oh, uh, thank you.” She grumbled, slightly annoyed, writing down the answer.

Evelyn saw Cat approaching in the distance. Her inward smile grew. “Editing.”

The woman simply grunted.

“Eight across, emulating Max Perkins.”

She hummed, annoyed, but nonetheless wrote the answer down and tossed another batch of seeds towards the birds.

Cat suddenly ran up and pounced on one of the pigeons, slicing open its wing with his claws. It attempted to fly away, but simply leapt and fell awkwardly to the ground on its side. Evelyn smiled outwardly this time, this smile being only for Cat. Her smile widened at the woman’s horrified gasp. Cat tackled the bird, sinking his claws into it, and with his teeth tearing off one of its legs. The woman quickly gathered her things and made a hasty retreat. Evelyn chuckled. Again, Cat let the bird go, delighting in its struggle before attacking it again. God, she loved this cat.

[Deleted]

Daring, yes, moving to New York was both a risk and a dare. Jessa honestly never thought herself of a busy city gal, yet she always wanted something more. The "Event" forced that something more into her life, so much so she was now thinking about switching careers half way through med school no less. Her mother told her not to be so quick, so Jessa took a leave of absence from medical school got a job at the Bronx Zoo and moved here, to the city that does not sleep.

To keep her self in shape, Jessa had started a morning routine, once she got up she take a run and then shower and start ones day.

Jessa had started today with that run but what she came across was not normal and she stepped in.

"STOP!" she yelled at the cat mauling the clearly now dead bird that had been torn into pieces. Jessa picked up the cat and started to clean it with a towel she had around her neck. "You don't do that, you hear me?" Jessa calmly said to the animal as she petted it along it's back.

Unknowing she would aquire it's DNA along with that pigeons DNA from the blood on the cat.

"Do you have a home?" Jessa asked the cat as she continue to clean it's fur off.

Tag: @evelyn

[Evelyn Winters]

Cat’s hunting was a sight to behold. Like most cats, he likes to play with his food, but unlike most cats his strikes are coordinated to be just as disabling as they need to and extremely painful, leaving the animal with an intense urge to get away, but no ability to do so. He leaves them suffering for as long as possible until they can’t move anymore, and then and only then does he eat them, preferably while they’re still alive. Cat and Evelyn really were made for each other.

She smiled as a woman ran up to the scene, attempting to put an end to it. A low chuckle rose in her throat as she moved to pick up Cat, who was still very much preoccupied with his living toy. ”You don’t want to do that.” she said in her monotone with a hint of amusement.

As soon as the woman picked up Cat, he let loose a series of wild hisses and growls, thrashing about with his claws in a series of coordinated strikes, aiming for the face and the eyes with his front claws, kicking at her stomach with his back, biting her hands with his strong jaws and sharp teeth, ignoring all her words of kindness and attempts to clean him.

”He’s hunting.” she said. ”It’s rude to interrupt Cat when he’s hunting.”

She looked down at the pigeon. Twitching. Still alive but just barely.

”Put him down, let him eat.” she said. ”And for your own safety.”

[Deleted]

Jessa thought she had a pretty good understanding of animals, even more so when she was bestowed with a certain set of abilities geared towards animals through the "Event". To understand such creatures and become them, what a gift! However, Jessa was quickly learning that even being a meta, there are still things one has much learn and for Jessa, she seemed to learn those lessons the hard way, today would be one of those days.

She had picked up what she thought was a stray and had started to clean it, she did not hear the other woman's warning till it was to late. The cat had sunk its, razor sharp teeth into her hand. At that point her startled reaction triggered her to changing into a cat almost like the one she was just holding. That startle reaction had happened before, while doing dishes with her sister, she dropped a plate and she turned into the family dog.

Under a pile of clothes would emerge her cat form, cats did not have much of an attention span and Jessa when she realised what had happened was trying hard to keep the attention of this little creature she had become.

Her latest phrase came to her, now what?

[Evelyn Winters]

“Did that woman just turn into a cat?” Axel asked.

“I believe so.” Evelyn answered in Axevian to her hallucination of a brother.

Cat sniffed at the woman-turned-cat, confused. Then leapt back over to his prey and hissed at the cat, hair standing on end, letting her know that this food was his and his alone before slicing open the still-living pigeon’s belly and feasting on its innards.

Evelyn walked over and knelt down to examine the cat. “Must be a metahuman.” She said in Axevian.

“Must be.” He agreed.

“I told you not to mess with Cat.” She lectured in English, amused. “He hates everyone except for me. And he very much prefers to lick the blood off his own fur. I think he likes the taste. That and the feeling of satisfaction he gets when he’s covered in the blood of his prey. I know I feel the same way, and we tend to agree on things.”

She moved to pick up the cat and hold her at arm’s length. “Can you talk?” She asked her. “Can you give me some sign that you understand what I’m saying?”

[Deleted]

Another fine mess Jessa got herself into. She is really going to have to do something about that startle reflex of hers.

The other cat would hiss at her and her cat reflex was to hiss back. She felt the animals fur standing on end, the thin creature knew not to take another's food since Jessa was not hungry anyway, thank goodness!

The lady would go on talking that she warned her and do not dare to take the cats food. Jessa's cat form could smell the bird's flesh and blood. YUCK! she thought to herself, good thing she was not a real cat, well full time that is.

She saw the lady reach down and pick her up and asked her if she could talk and asked for some sign that she could understand what she was saying to her. Jessa thought about bitting her, as everyone knows pay back is a bi**h. She controlled herself, trying to get more comfortable as the lady had one of her thumbs was sticking in her side.

She tried to talk in her animal form and all that came out was a long drawn out meow. Jessa shook her animals head and tried again, still just a meow.
How was she going to try to tell this lady, that she could understand her? That thought of bitting her came to mind but she didn't know if the lady had thrown or dropped if her cat form would really land on their feet.

Jessa licked the ladies hand, 'yik' she thought, as the barbed tongue of this creature went across the lady's hand. Her cat form wiggled some more as cats do when not properly supported by the whole body. Jessa looked back at the other cat who was enjoying it's meal.

[Evelyn Winters]

Was that a response? Seemed human enough, but she couldn’t be certain. At least now she knew that she couldn’t speak.

Cat, having quickly finished his meal, happily pranced over to Evelyn and spat out what remained of the bird: a head and tail attached by a feathery spine, bits a meat still sticking to the bone. ”Thank you.” She said, scratching his blood-soaked head as she put the remains in one of the bird in one of her various pockets. He stretched his neck up to meet her hand, eyes closed, purring, content.

The mad scientist in her head had a sudden, sinister idea. She’d never properly experimented on a metahuman before. She hadn’t had the chance. This woman seemed to be stuck in a cat’s body, presumably because of the bite Cat had delivered to her hand. If she were to bite her, would she turn back into a human? She wasn’t willing to try. Besides, if she were to remain in a cat body, she could incapacitate her and bring her back to her trailer while drawing little to no suspicion.

Then she looked at Cat, and another idea entered her head. ”Have you ever killed a human before?’ She asked him in Axevian. He didn’t answer, of course. It wouldn’t surprise her if he had, but if he hadn’t, now would be the perfect chance. A human stuck in a cat’s body would be defenseless against Cat’s barrage of attacks. And it would be great for Cat to get a human kill under his belt. Although, she had to admit, it did seem a bit like cheating.

For now, she had decided to stick to the basics, get a definitive answer. ”Meow twice and blink three times if you can understand me.”

[Deleted]

Jessa in her cat form squirmed within the hands of the woman, wanting to get away from her grip. How was she going to get out of this situation? Why was it not easy to change back like her dog form? Was it because this was newly acquired or was it because she was scared? This lady did scared her the way she talked to herself and her cat, who seemed to have an enate connection with.

When the woman had talked to her cat about killing a human, that confirmed that this woman was nuts. Jessa tried to escape her grasp but could not wiggle her way out.

She wanted confirmation that Jessa could understand what the evil woman was saying by meowing and blinking. The meows were of course easy but she found it hard to blink, so she just closed and opened her cat forms eyes.

As soon as the evils lady's hand was within range, Jessa took the chance and went and bit the lady, but she held on with the cat forms mouth on the lady's wrist. Hopefully the lady would drop her so she could run off and find some kind of cover.

[Evelyn Winters]

”Human sentience confirmed.” She mumbled as the cat, for the most part, followed her instructions. She held her in her hands for a little, even as she started to squirm, not quite sure what to do with her. She supposed a succinct blow to the head would knock her out for a while, long enough for her to bring her to her trailer without any resistance. But then what? What if she woke up and turned back into a human? She didn’t have any restraints in her possession for very good reason and she wasn’t planning on accumulating any anytime soon. The very thought made her feel uncomfortably aware of the scars around her wrists.

Lost in her thoughts, she completely neglected the fact that the cat’s mouth was getting a little too close to her hand. She didn’t flinch when she sunk her fangs into her flesh, didn’t even drop her, but it gave her an idea. She put the cat down, then playfully yelled, “Get her, Cat!” Thinking he deserved a bit of fun. He followed in suit, chasing after her. Cat’s lithe, muscular body and years of living in the wilderness, hunting for his food would give him a huge advantage over this human-turned-cat. ”Don’t kill her though, I have research to do!”

“I don’t think he’s gonna listen to you.” Axel commented.

”I can always intervene if things get too far.” She replied in Axevian.

Axel raised an eyebrow, smirking. “Can you?”

Evelyn smirked back inwardly. ”He won’t be happy about it, but I can try. Besides, even if I can’t, a dead body is almost as useful as a live one.” Axel chuckled in response.

Cat was quickly gaining on the metahuman, and once he got close enough, pounced, aiming to sink his long, sharp claws into her hind legs.

[Deleted]

This lady was nuts, Jessa was glad that she bit her in the cat form and happy to learn that her cat form could land on its feet without her thinking about it. That reoccurring them of 'what now' came to mind before she started to run, to where? She did not know, yet.

Jessa was trying to change back to her human form however, before she could even think about it, the other cat had pounced onto her and now she was littery involved in a cat fight. Her cat scratching and biting her. Jessa tried to fight back but it was hard in this cat form.

She did her best but it wasn't doing anything but losing to the evil ladies cat.

[Evelyn Winters]

”Alright, that’s enough.” She grinned, amused, as Cat easily tore the metahuman apart. ”You gotta stop.” She giggled as she made her way over to them. He didn’t relent. He didn’t seem to be paying any attention to her. ”C’mon.” She bent down to scoop up the metahuman cat. Cat growled and swiped at her arm, managing to nick her skin, drawing blood. Evelyn sighed and put her hands on her hips. ”C’mon, I have experiments to do.” She grabbed the woman’s clothes before quickly swooping down and picking up the cat. Cat let out a long, drawn-out, guttural meow, like a complaint. Evelyn quickly grabbed a knife from her pocket and slammed the hilt against the cat’s head, swiftly knocking her out. Cat continued complaining and started clawing at her leg, thankfully the prosthetic one, making long claw marks in her pants. She sighed again. ”You have no appreciation for science, you know that?” She told Cat. He meowed loudly back at her. She shook her head and started making her way towards her trailer, Cat whining and scratching at her feet as she walked. He eventually leapt on her back, hooking his claws into her jacket and climbed up onto her shoulder and at started batting at the unconscious cat. She sighed once again, but allowed him to do it, ignoring all the strange looks she was getting as she walked down the street.

Eventually, she made it to the outskirts of the city. She walked between two derelict buildings deep into the forest where she made her way to the overgrown dirt road hidden by trees and a run down no-trespassing sign at the end of which lied her trailer, but it wasn’t simply a trailer, it had several, bulky modifications added to it, and attached to it was what looked like a large black box with a steel door, fortified with several locks inside of which were a myriad of materials and tools mainly for engineering purposes.

Evelyn let Cat hop off her back before she entered the main trailer which was cluttered with all sorts of engineering knick knacks, medical and scientific equipment, work-in-progress knives and other weaponry equipment, and several taxidermied half-eaten animals, which she’d taken up after Cat had started laying dead animals at her feet. Tucked into the very back of the trailer was a very tiny kitchen, a minuscule bed, and a door leading to the bathroom. She laid the cat down on a metal table, then put on a pair of latex gloves and began taking samples: blood, skin, saliva, everything she could, and placed them in vials which she carefully placed in a temperature-controlled container. Once finished, she sighed and leaned back against the table. Nothing to do until the cat awakened and turned back into a human, so she simply had to wait until then. She couldn’t risk the metahuman messing with her samples when she woke up so she took to welding one of the aforementioned work-in-progress knives while she waited instead, being sure to face the cat so she’d know when she woke up. Eventually, she heard a scratching at the door. She went up to let Cat in who settled down in the corner of the trailer, curled up, and went to sleep. Evelyn smiled, and promptly returned to her work.

[Deleted]

Jessa awoke still in her cat form 'don't meta's return to human if knocked out or sleeping?' guess not she thought to herself with a massive headache. Waking up and being in a strange place, d*m it. That phrase that Jessa was getting to used to 'now what?'. Lifting her cat form head she saw the evil lady throwing a knife around. This would be the ideal time to change back? Maybe. Still in her cat form she let out a meow that was really a scream but of could she could not human speak in animal form. If the evil ladies cat was around they would know what that meow was about.

Jessa laid the cat form's head down until she could change back into her human form, which was taking a long time even for her, even with concentration she was changing. A fear entered her head, what if she was stuck like this? No, no, that can't happen right? This wasn't Animorphs after all. No, relax Jess, calm down things will work out she thought to herself.

After a few moments of being still she felt that feeling of her changing back to her human form, thank goodness! One problem down and now she was naked before the evil lady. Jessa did not fight her, she was polite and just asked for something to cover herself with since she did not know that the evil lady was at least kind enough to grab her clothes for her.

"What are you going to do with me?" Jessa asked the evil lady, still on the metal table across from her.

Tag:@winters

[Evelyn Winters]

Evelyn grunted, seeing the cat stir from its sleep. She let out a loud meow, and Cat’s head snapped up to look at her. He licked his lips nonchalantly before putting his head back down, but now a low rumble was emitting from the cat, he was purring. ”Now we just have to wait until you turn into a human.” Evelyn said, wiping the scorch marks off her newly-welded knife. ”Don’t worry, I’m very patient.” She placed the knife down and removed her jacket, revealing a black t-shirt and her horribly scarred arms underneath, and pulled the pigeon carcass out of her pocket. She got out her taxidermy equipment and cleaned the bird, then began pulling the flesh out of its head.

As Evelyn was injecting preservatives into the bird’s skin, the cat finally transformed back into a human. ”Here.” Evelyn grabbed to woman’s clothes and handed it to her. She doesn’t typically feel empathy, and that’s not what this was, not exactly, but she knew what it was like to be unwillingly naked before a captor, and she didn’t want to be reminded of that. That didn’t mean she’d be polite enough to avert her eyes, but she did pick up her clothes for this specific eventuality.

”What am I going to do to you?” She mirror. ”Well, I’m going to take some biological samples; blood, saliva, skin, etcetera. And don’t worry, I won’t skin you or do anything like that, not unless you provoke me to do so.” She walked over to the research area and put on a new pair of latex gloves. ”It’ll be just like going to the doctor, I’m going to perform some perfectly harmless tests, and if you don’t resist me I won’t kill you.” She looked the woman in the eyes, ”Is that clear?”

[Deleted]

That sound that her animal to human form made always made her feel queasy, the sounds of bone breaking and reforming, the sounds of organs reforming all made for one slightly sick Jessa, there was a slight hangover that she felt once back into her human form. Sitting on the metal table she heard the evil lady tell her things, that made her feel even more sick. "Testing?" there was a a fear that creeped up her spine.

In a surprising kind gesture, the evil lady gave her, her own clothes back to her. Clothes that she quickly snatched up and put on her bare body. Once finished she stood there before the evil lady and her cat that for some reason Jessa let out a loud hiss to without thinking about it, till it was to late and she covered her mouth with her hands looking sheepish. "I'm sorry" she whispered.

She stood still fearful of what the evil lady would do to her, her newest motto repeating in her head 'what now?'

Tag: @winters

[Evelyn Winters]

”Yes testing.” She affirmed. ”I’ve never gotten any biological data from a metahuman before, I’d like to obtain some.”

As the woman got dressed, she took out her venipuncture equipment that she stole from the local hospital; tourniquet, alcohol wipe, needle, tubes, and once the woman sat back down, tied the tourniquet around the woman’s arm. She began slowly and methodically shooting off questions. “What other powers do you have? Can you transform into other animals? Do you need to make physical contact to transform into that animal? How much control do you have over your transformation? Do you have any other powers?” She looked the woman in the eye to drive the point home. “I’ll know if you’re lying.”

She was taken slightly aback when then woman let out a loud hiss. Cat popped his head up, then stood up in the slow, narcissistic way that cats do, stretching out every limb, arching his back and shaking off before finally walking forwards. ”Can you communicate with animals?” She asked as Cat made his way towards them. He hopped up on the counter and sniffed at her, his tail slowly swishing back and forth.

”Not that that’s much of a power.” She said, taking the alcohol wipe and wiping it on the crook of the woman’s forearm. ”All humans can communicate with animals and vice versa. One knows from a young age that if an animal growls that they’re angry, if they whimper that they’re scared, if a dog wags its tail that they’re happy. You simply have to yell at an animal to let them know how you feel, or scream, or give them words of praise in an exaggerated tone.” She looked at Cat, a small smile on her face. ”And the more you know an animal, the more you can communicate. Look at him.” She said. ”He thinks you’re so small, like a scared little animal trapped in a cage. Which, I suppose, you are.”

She grabbed the needle and the tube. ”I will stress again that if you resist, I will kill you. It’s more useful to have you alive, but I don’t need you that way. Even if you turn into a bug, I can easily find and eliminate you. In fact, I’ll let Cat do it.” She smiled again at the cat, who had taken a seat and was watching the woman with condescending eyes, back straight, tail swishing slowly back and forth. ”Now hold your arm out straight.” She commanded as she moved to insert the needle into the woman’s arm.