She had been asleep.  She had been so peaceful, curled up into that tiny ball of spotted fur smaller than his hand, pressed into the curve of his throat where his ruff wasn't so thick as to block all of his body heat.  Of course, it was an incredibly dangerous spot, but she was being good and was all yawny and making tiny little mews that weren't nearly as angry as usual, so Adder had let her pick her spot.

When he woke up, though, she wasn't there.  She wasn't anywhere to be seen or scented.  Adder felt confused for a few moments, and then found that the door to the hallway wasn't latched.  There was even enough space for a tiny angry kitten to squeeze out without hurting herself.

Adder started running on two feet, as that was the form he'd happened to wake in, but shouldered the door open more while on four feet.  The pale wolf veritably (if quietly) exploded into the hallway, turning in a few sharp circles before catching the kitten's scent on the carpet.  He took off after her.

He was supposed to have his first school thing today.  His stuff with Cafas was on hold until the X-Men dangerous stuff out in the city settled down - riots made Adder quite glad to be safe and sound in here - so his mornings weren't really occupied, but he still couldn't spend forever doing stuff.  And he wanted food, but kitten was probably out mauling people right now.  Cafas would be very unhappy if Adder let kitten maul people other than him, because Cafas was good at dealing with it.  And Adder got whatever happened because he was the one who'd scared off the dog-fighter people.

Okay, okay, where did kitten go?  Adder followed the trail down the hall, but it got a little lost amongst a horde of people-footsteps.  Kids.  Always getting in the way.

He picked up her trail again at the entrance to the library, shifted long enough for a couple of people to kind of stare while he opened the door, and then dropped his wolf nose to the floor again to track kitten, for this place was full of places for her to hide.

And from which to attack.  On which note... the little kitten wiggled, set her tiny claws into the cover of the book she was perched on, quite a few feet up on a shelf, and launched herself at some cool moving things that smelled like food and seemed to be attached to someone's head, and made ready to shred!

It had been a long, long while since she had last been at the school. Long enough that she couldn't remember exactly what the walls looked like, or how the library smelled. She was nervous of course, considering how she had left... and what she had left behind in the process.

She had dealt with that on her own, however. She hoped he had dealt with it too.

She probably would not have returned save for the people she knew there. People who would probably like to know that she was okay, alive even. She'd put off coming back much too long. That didn't make her any less nervous about it though.

Of course the first place she visited was the library. She'd spent many days tucked away inside its sheltering walls. She'd had one or two grand adventures within it, too. That is where she found herself currently, affectionately stroking the bound spine of a book as she lapsed into nostalgia.

She deep in her own memories was she that she wasn't aware of being stalked. Her snakes, who were bound tightly in a long braid were another story. They had caught the scent on the air, pink tongue flicking out greedily. Had they not been so tightly bound they would have been able to explore the air freely. Fortunately for one frisky feline that also meant they weren't in proper positions to attack. Even poor Sloth had been encapsulated within the confines of her hair. They hissed in irritation.

"Shush, you lot." She muttered quietly. And then...

Pain!

"Ahh!" Her hands flew to the top of her head where sharp kitten claws had dug into tender flesh. Her brain writhed as all of the snakes combined attempted to escape. The Greek latched onto the source of the pain, dragging tiny claws from her scalp and snakes combined as she brought it forward to look at her attacker.

"...kitten?" She kept her hold on the tiny thing as best she could, fingers hooked under it's armpits and around its back, while its little legs kicked and it hissed at her. The tiny wounds it had left on her already started to close themselves back up.

No! There were wriggly things that must be attacked! Kitten writhed and fought in the inhumane grip, doing her very best to reach flesh with fang or claw, but the size difference was too great for success.

Didn't stop her from continuing to try, though, and screeching her protest!


Still near the entrance to the library, Adder's ears and tail shot up at the sound of absolute fury and feline bloody murder. Heedless of the now rather furious students in his wake, he jumped onto and over a table rather than going around it, and made for the corner that held the sound of idiot kitten.

He burst into the nook with his jaws open, panting more from WHERE IS KITTEN and CAFAS DOES NOT WANT KITTEN TO MURDER than exertion, yellow eyes wide and searching for the little ball of spotted fur, and generally doing a very good impression of Big Bad Wolf's much more dangerous brother.  Meanwhile the very angry kitten meowed rather proudly at her ride-and-food-provider, letting up her flailing for a moment.

It struggled and bit, and she did her best to keep it from chewing on her gloves. Her wrist and forearms she wasn't so worried over. Any damage would heal, and the kitten wouldn't inadvertently hurt itself by coming in contact with her venom.

"Shush, little one... shush." The Greek cooed, attempting to calm her. She'd never been very good with felines, though... she was starting to wonder if there was some type of list she had ended up on to explain what all cats seemed to hate her.

Just as she was considering slipping her glasses off and putting the kitten into a sleep for a bit, something else popped into the room and quickly captured her attention.

A HUGE FREAKIN DOG!

The Greek shrieked, jerking the kitten away and behind her. All of the stories of cats and dogs popped into her head at once, and she was instantly on the defensive to protect the feline. It hadn't even occurred to her that the cat had temporarily ceased its struggling and meowed at the beast.

"Bad! Go away!" She attempted to shoo him, but found it hard while trying to maintain her grip on the kitten. "Shoo!"

Sloth's head appeared around one shoulder, tongue flicking out lazily as he scope out the latest scent.

...Oops.

Adder recoiled at the shout, shifting to human both intentionally, to get snake-rock-flower-mint to stop freaking out and because she was REALLY LOUD and his ears hurt and he couldn't actually hold the form because it was too loud.

At any rate, he ended up on two bare feet, partially crouched and clearly torn between bolting and having to rescue kitten/rescue everyone from kitten. He was clean compared to his record but there still seemed to be dirt ground into his skin, and the black lining his eyes still looked more like extreme exhaustion.

He also had a near record lack of clothes on, since his nest-bed happened to be right on top of a heat vent and that was apparently being used now that it was getting cool outside. Also, Cafas had bought him fuzzy pajamas and he didn't want to wear day-clothes with them because apparently that was a weird thing he didn't want to do, harrumph. So what if snakemint had a clear view of his bare chest, very visible bones and multiple layers of casual scars and all?

"She's mine!" he said, half protest and half growl, torn and conflicted and very much stressed out.

She flinched at the sudden transformation, gaping momentarily... until she realized the boy was very nearly naked. Her whole face instantly darkened to a deep brown and she sputtered at him.

"She's mine!"

The Gorgon blinked, dragging her eyes away from the wolf-now-boy to the kitten in her hands. She? The cat? "This kitten is yours?" Her braid wriggled as the other snakes tried to mimic Sloth to see what was going on. She finally relented her hold on the cat, stooping slightly to set it down at her feet.

She kept a carefully trained eye on the boy, however, ready to reach up for her glasses at a moments notice. If she needed to swoop in and save the tiny creature, she would...

"Who are you?" She asked carefully, mentally noting and cataloging the appearance. He looked thin... it reminded her of when her snakes had first appeared and she hadn't been able to keep any weight on.

((OOC: when you are very late in noticing you posted with the wrong account... for clarity! no, Adder does not spontaneously gain the ability to look like Aiden))

...was being human worse to snakemint?

Adder's ears flicked back and he eased backwards a bit, now even more flustered. Especially when he tried to shift back to wolf but couldn't concentrate enough, so there was just a jittery white haze around his shoulders for a bit that couldn't quite get itself to coalesce into fur.

This was not going well. What a day for his first class.

At least he could nod, and so claim kitten. Not that her behaviour really helped: when snakemint put her down, the kitten jumped onto her foot to swipe at an ankle, then raced away to climb, claw-over-claw, up Adder's leg. And ribs. And head, biting the point of his ear on her way for good measure.

Adder had learned to stand still while being climbed, because trying to either stop her or help her almost always turned out far worse. Once she was settled on the top of his head, paws growing more and more tangled in his messy hair, he dabbed at the little points of blood rising on his bare skin. There were quite a few similar tiny scabs to keep the new holes company.

It also kept him from immediately answering, skirting around the subject in his head a few times. "Adder," he finally said, almost sulking at having to say it.

The Greek watched uncertainly, and then in surprise as the kitten proceeded to climb the boy and claim a spot on his head. It certainly hadn't been what she was expecting in the least. She watched him through her shades as he inspected the little wounds left over by the kittens claws, and promptly dug out a little while handkerchief from the pocket of her coat. With one gloved hand that had long since healed of any small cat inflicted wounds, she held the cloth out to him as a friendly gesture.

"Adder,"

She smiled at him and focused on his face, rather than his current state of undress. "Andrea." She introduced herself back. "Are you a student here?"

She gently swatted Sloth away as he tried to sneak over her shoulder again, remaining focused on Adder. Would it be to forward to offer to cook him something? He looked so slim. So hungry.

...Speaking of... The kitchen had been her next planned stop. Given what she had been up to for the last few years she could generally be found lingering around places of food, in case she needed help building her energy back up. Her gloved fingers lifted to tinker with the slim vile on a steel chain around her neck. The liquid inside was a deep, thick red in color.