Kitten in the Park (Open)

It had been a few weeks since he'd gotten back from Hell. Those weeks of blindness and brutality in Romania had finally ended. His neck still ached from the shock collar, and the past few nights, Shin had had Camp-themed nightmares... it really had been horrible. He still hadn't called Kasumi since his return. Shin supposed it was because he was weak. Weak to get thrown into the camps in the first place, too weak to prevent the carnage, puny enough to get shoved around by camp guards, and carry corpses to the fire. He still didn't know if he could accept that side of humanity. The uncaring, mutant-hating side. Shin was a lightweight. He hadn't even thought to pick Thor up yet from Katrina. Ever since he'd returned, his thoughts had been distracted.

Distracted by numbers. Distracted by the grid. Distracted by worries. Distracted by beating himself up. Normal hippy dippy Shin would have dashed to the danger room, wouldn't he have? To try the new powers he'd gained in the camps out? Normal loopy goofy Shin would have escaped into Kamen Rider at the first sign of trouble, or hunkered down in Kasumi's room to talk. Any normal Shin would have been happier, and more than willing to do his jobs at the Full Circle, greet students at the mansion, be an X-man... any normal Shin would have done these things, and been well-adjusted. But that was the thing... he wasn't any normal Shin.

Ladies and gentlemen, this Shin was bruised... both morally, and physically. Like a spoiled banana. He'd seen the harder side of humanity that hated the different, and locked it away. He'd seen Sunshine on a cloudy day. She'd summoned rain clouds, to drive consciousness away... and I'll bet you'd say what could make him feel this way...? His girl...

Talking 'bout his little girl. Kasumi.

He could handle moral questions. He could deal with the fact he'd been locked away in the camps, unable to see, or even do math, forced to sing the same lame songs, and hang around with mutants he didn't know, and get help from those he did. He could compartmentalize the horror, and even justify his use of vicious force if he had to. Because he'd had to, and desperate times called for desperate measures. If the moment called for motor bike stealing, he could deal. If it called for adapting to the body of a big red giant, he was okay with that, but worrying about Kasumi... that constant, ever-present butterfly atom bomb of angst in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't handle that.

And so, Shin wandered through Central Park, distracted by a whirlwind of conflicting and agreeing thoughts that'd make any air elemental's head spin. Hopelessly hopeless. Worried about why he was worried. Edging on anti-social... distraught. Wondering if he could still love her, when she willingly put her life on the line... when he saw it.

A girl playing with an adorable little kitten.

It momentarily melted his heart.

Medic.

The distance between Shin and the short girl and the kitten closed, from eleven feet, to 7 feet, to 5 feet, to four... he stood over them, eyes locked on the little furball in the girl's hands. On the grid, the larger percentage of the feline's fur was black, with 20% whiteness across its chest. Orange blotches covered the tips of its black legs at the paw, like each foot had been dipped in butterscotch. It also covered its face, save a spot of black around the right eye, similar to an eye patch. It was a calico. It was exactly 0 inches from the chest of the short girl who was holding it, and it looked cold...

Spotted calico cuteness overload.

Shin liked spots.

They reminded him of Kasumi.

Shin frowned.













"Dammit..."

He stopped, and covered his mouth. Maybe that had come out louder than he'd intended?

Whoops.

" . . . uhhhh." She'd fallen down. What was... the well-adjusted thing to do here, when a girl fell on the grass-shaded part of the grid? "Sorry...?"

Asking sorry as a question, Shin, is most certainly not the correct answer. Shin shook his head, and tried again. "You okay? I didn't mean to spook you, it's just..." His voice fell with his face. He really wasn't in the mood to talk with strangers. "I wasn't thinking..." About other people. He was only stuck on himself.

Triangular pupils focused on the girl.

Shin blinked. Those triangular pupils vanished behind eyelid, then returned. Hurt her? He frowned. "Now, why would I do that?"

A finger bent to point at the kitten in her arms. Shin's eyes dropped to focus on spots. "This guy here, though... I think he wants room to breathe."

Shin shook his head. "I don't make it a habit to do mean things. Usually, I'm the one doing the nice stuff..." Usually. Contemplating break-ups over trivial-yet-severe issues wasn't what he'd consider 'nice'. His eyes dropped to her downcast look. "Speaking of... are you alright?"

Like the kitten, the girl also looked a bit cold. It wasn't really his place to offer aid if she didn't need, or want, it, but... he was an X-man, after all. The least he could do was ask. If she was worrying about other people hurting her, the possibility existed someone, somewhere, made a habit of it... Shin didn't like that thought.

Yup, definitely cold. It was a shame he didn't have a pink sweater to throw over her, like he'd done with Luna. Shin frowned. "You sure? Because I know places that are warmer than Central Park. You look kind of cold to me."

Hrm...

"Okay. Well, if you ever need help, there's this place--" He stopped. Was it weird to try and help people in the park when they said they were fine? Was it weirder to try and offer them warm locations and connections to the mansion when he hardly knew whether they were mutant, or anti-mutant and human? Was it generally strange for an older man to be talking to a younger girl in the park for no reason.

All answers were probably yes. He hoped nobody thought he was up to something. He really wasn't. He cast a glance over his shoulder, then bowed his head with a sigh. "I should go..."

He had better things to do than worry about whether or not he looked like a jerk in Central Park... like worrying whether or not he looked like a jerk to Kasumi, or his closest friends...