'It's too bright…' but that was a generally nice thing. A bright sunny day, with lots of sun beaming in through the windows, which was nice change of pace as of late. New York was a much colder place than southern California, where there, a typical day ranged in the upper 70s and 80s if it were nice, but New York felt instantly 10 degrees colder to Sophia, which was not appreciate of. Of for the days of summer to arrive, shorter skirts, less long sleeves knits and blouses, and perhaps a much better chance for sandals if anything else.

Alas, the sun was Sophia major gripe. Sophia was not a outdoor person, preferring the comfort of a desk and table inside to study and do her work, rather than being outside. The only time she liked to be outside was at night time, telescope in hand, looking out in to the stars for fun, much as she did as a teen. Though those days were not nearly as prevalent, school monopolizing her time as of late meant that night time viewings were turning in to rare events. For now though I was studying and work, if she were going to be a teacher, she had to be a decent one first before she could become the best one of all.

Sophia entered one of the living spaces, one of several in the house, and wasn't paying too close attention. Her attention was instead on her notes from class, reading them off her new phone she recent bought, with its huge screen and nearly infinite processing power, it was a real dream of a tool for Sophia. Granted it was a common tool, but Sophia was trying her best to utilize it to her best, for now, jotting notes on to it and listening to recordings of her music was her favorite past time. Ear buds in, this was a good time to sit down, a quite place she could stretch out and read more of the text book under her arm. The ungodly looking book looked like a mystical tome of knowledge, or atleast three phone books sewn together. It wasn't a concern for Sophia, she had atleast three more this size in her room, but a nice place to sit was best.

For Sophia, this had been a sofa she noticed before. Around this time in the afternoon, it was usually beaming with sunlight, not a favorite idea considering right now she thought it way too bright, but it was probably the warmer place in the house and few students usually passed by that portion of the living space, so Sophia wasn't hopefully going to be to bothered. Sophia hadn't been paying attention though, her attention still on her phone checking e-mails and other things, so much so that she hadn't noticed a previous occupant of the Sophia, plopping down on to it with any second thought if someone else had been sitting, or even resting there before…

It was such a bright and sunny day out and Regan had spent the morning toiling in the greenhouse. She had come inside and cleaned up before deciding to take a little nap. Looking around her room she was very unsatisfied with the lack of sun, so she wandered out to see if the living room was going to be more promising.

Entering the living room, Regan smiled as she spotted a quiet sofa in the corner by the window with a perfect sunbeam coming through. She quickly skipped over to the sofa and hopped onto it with a soft purr. She fluffed the throw pillow that was on it and placed it under her head before curling up into a ball. Her long tail curled up around her body and she clasped it in her clawed hand. The warm sun felt wonderful on her soft fur and it heated her to the core which in turn made her purr even louder. Satisfied with this perfect spot, she slowly drifted off into a pleasant sleep.

…….

The sweet slumber was suddenly interrupted by someone who flopped down on top of her! Regan screeched, “MEEEERRRRRROOOOOOOW!!” and scrambled out from under the person who had sat on her. Her strength easily moved the person on top of her off of her as she scrambled off of the sofa and into the corner. Her claws skittered on the wood floor as she tried to get a grip; she skidded to a stop and backed up into the corner of the room. Her long tail puffed up as she sat on her haunches in the corner and hissed at the perpetrator. The tigress’s emerald eyes darted around as she tried to focus on the person who had spooked her.

Sophia had little inclination about what had happening to her all the sudden. Granted she only found a place to sit and reactively did so only because it was so natural for her to do so. But when she first sat down, feeling something underneath her felt strange, but the sudden growl of noise seemed the best of what was about to happen. No sooner had Sophia's rear end touched the sofa had she been violently kicked from it, lifted upwards in to the sky and thrown forward as though she were some timely cartoon catapulted from a spring and thrown forward. Even the timely yelp from Sophia seemed classic to the 40s and 50s animation of their day, “WAAaahhhh….!"

“Ow…", it didn't take that long before Sophia was on the floor, rubbing her head properly and she lay there for a moment, breath taken and confused by what had happened. Granted she hadn't flown too far from the sofa, looking around, there was thankfully no sofa table before this one, otherwise it would have hurt a lot more. The carpet was a thankful relief, being rather soft, it gave Sophia a moderate landing rather than anything too hard. Though Sophia did notice a rather upturned draft, realizing her skirt had flown upward and might have revealed far more than she expected. Turning bright red, she got to her knees, properly tucking her short skirt down and ensuring that no one caught any glimpses of her unmentionable hugging her derrière.

“What was that…?" rubbing her head a bit, though it didn't hurt much, but Sophia wanted to take account of what had happened, once she collected herself. Her big concern was the phone she had, if it had been thrown, who knew what kind of damage it could have taken, so that was first. The text book she'd brought her been thrown lopsided along the sofa, partly open, a page or two might have been folded improperly now, but that wasn't a huge concern. Sophia checked around it first and saw no sight of her phone, not on the ground or near the book at all. Whatever knocked her off the sofa could have waited, she needed to locate her phone, damn anything else. She started to feel under the sofa, the ridges of her fingers lining the bottom of it as she kneeled down on her knees and palms, trying to see if perhaps her cherished phone had slid under the sofa perhaps.

Regan’s feline ears flicked forward as she head the culprit start talking. Her emerald eyes fixated on the form on the floor. Her heart was still mildly pounding in her chest as she watched the blond woman adjusting her skirt and then promptly started searching for something like nothing had happened. Regan cocked her head to the side in curiosity at the woman. How could you get tossed off a couch and not want to find out what had thrown you first?

Cautiously, Regan moved forward towards the woman, still on all fours. She gingerly moved next to the woman who was busy fishing around under the sofa. As she crawled over, her furry hand landed on an odd shape. Looking down she spotted a smart phone and assumed that this was what the blond must be looking for. She picked it up carefully and tapped the blond woman on the shoulder with a clawed finger. “Um, excuse me, is this what you are looking for?” she asked softly, her voice filled with notes of her Irish accent as she spoke.

“Ah Yes!" perfect, someone had found it, and that was quick too. Sophia hadn't even looked up before grabbing the object out of the Irish person's hand and checking real quickly to make sure it was alright. It was though she were completely absorbed by its relative safety, this cell phone represented a great deal of investment in money on her part, if it were to be damaged, “Thank you…. very much…."

While it's relative safety was important, no cell phone could distract Sophia from the cat like person before her. Now when Sophia stared back at her, it was like a tiger had some how become a human, rather than a human becoming that of a tiger or cat. In her own relative mind, she expect some qualities of a cat on a person, perhaps a pair of cat like ears, maybe whiskers and a tail, maybe even different stylized eyes similar to a cats, but this was a not what she expected. This was a woman who appeared more feral like a tiger than anything else. Even Sophia's own words became confused and bewildered, stuttering a bit as her arms curled in a bit more to herself. Sophia had to remember that not everyone was as perfect as her, so a tiger like person shouldn't have been unexpected. But she didn't expect it either.

A small smile crossed over Regan’s feline lips as she was able to help out the blond woman, but her grateful attitude soon changed as she took in the way that Regan looked. It was in her eyes and Regan could see it, that typical look she always got when someone saw the fur covered woman who looked more like a beast then a person. She let out a sigh and backed up away from the woman to give her space but to also make herself feel a little more comfortable by getting farther away from the peering eyes.

Regan wasn’t quite sure what to do and was starting to feel really awkward. She stood up and gave the blond a nod of her head. “You’re welcome, and sorry for tossing you off the sofa, you sat on me.” She sighed again and placed her clawed hands on her hips. She made a mental note not to fall asleep in the living room anymore. Twice she had fallen asleep and twice she had ended up getting the hell spooked out of her, she was going to have to find a new napping spot.

“I most certainly did not. Must have been some prank that another kid conducted on the sofa," Sophia was startled to hear the notion of sitting on top of another person, it was undignified, and not common for Sophia, plus it wasn't what happened. The air of superiority was abound by Sophia, it was not her who had sat on someone, she'd never do such a thing, nor had she noticed it before. Certainly if she had sat on someone else, she of all people would have known it, but that was simply the point, she hadn't sat upon anyone else. It clearly had happened the way this tigress had said.

“Besides, I'd never sit on a person, you'd have to be awfully blind to not notice another person on the sofa. Speaking of which, where did you come from?" it was awfully strange too, this tigress woman had appeared out of nowhere, and suddenly been here when Sophia couldn't find her phone. Granted Sophia didn't think this person had done anything, generally a mutation this advance meant that it was really their only mutation, no secondary abilities like reading minds or controlling the weather for a person of such tiger like qualities. So it obviously wasn't her, it simply wasn't.

Regan’s head jerked back slightly as the woman clearly stated that she did no such thing as sit on the feline. With a sigh Regan put two and two together about the blond. The business woman type of clothing and the very clear sense of being superior to everyone else made the flashing red lights go off in her head. No matter what Regan said to try and tell this woman the truth of what had happened, it wouldn’t sink in, she was in her own little world. Deciding to play along instead of arguing with her for the next few hours, Regan responded. “Oh of course, that would be preposterous! It must have been some little brat! My apologies!”

Regan’s brow raised as the woman clearly thought that she had appeared from thin air. What was she supposed to say? The truth was not something she was going to believe. Half-truths would have to suffice since Regan hated to lie. “I was trying to catch a nap in a quiet spot; the living room seemed like a great place to snooze. But then I was interrupted by,” she paused to try and pick her words carefully, “the sound of your plight and came over to investigate.”

This was going to be an interesting conversation….

"Are you… mocking me?" though such a phrase might have come out rather harsh and even direct at a person, but this time, and for Sophia, it sound more confused and bewildered. She seemed to be going to rather great lengths to make it seem like Sophia was right somehow, but it was obvious to the blonde that she was. Not that Sophia wasn't expecting to be wrong, it was rather a prideful sense that she couldn't been the person to sit on another, it would have been just utterly embarrassing, and it was such an action that it was never meant in spite or harm, just Sophia being unaware.

"It doesn't matter. I'd assume if you wanted a quiet nap, you might choose your room instead. I figure people passing by all the time would be unnerving to a person trying to nap," because it was to Sophia. Granted she'd never tried to nap in a living room, or on a sofa, or even nap for that matter. She hadn't done that since she was a child. Matter of fact, "Why were you trying to sleep anyways? Wouldn't you have homework to do, or maybe something else moderately productive? Why would you want to sleep? "

“No, I’m not mocking you. I’m just a little out of it by the sudden wake up.” Regan felt slightly bad now for the slightly mocking tone she may have given off. She didn’t intend for it to come out in a rude fashion, but she was still on edge from getting spooked so badly. “I’m sorry if that came out rudely.” Her words were sincere and she smiled softly to try and ease the tension a little.

As the woman asked why she wanted to sleep, Regan couldn’t help but tilt her head to the side, she was a cat and what do cats like to do? Nap of course! She decided to just answer the many questions. “Well you see, at this time of the day the sun comes through the windows quite nicely and I like curling up for a nap in a nice warm sunbeam. As for why I would want to sleep, I’m a cat and cats enjoy a nice nap when they have nothing to do. I’m not a student here so no homework to do. I’m the gardener here at the mansion and I finished my work this morning. Why not enjoy a relaxing snooze in the afternoon?”

"I imagine if you slept during the day, you’d mess up your sleeping routine and find yourself awake until the wee hours of the morning. Besides, the day time is the best time to get stuff done, lots of light outside and plenty of things to do. Surely there’s something productive to do?” though it was strange to Sophia, others did it all the time. Sophia hadn’t considered a nap in a long time, with the exception of her body did it on its own from time to time when she was otherwise dead tired from staying awake so long. But Sophia’s constitution was rather good, even if her stamina wasn’t, but napping seemed a poor choice of things to do in the day. But considering Sophia had plenty of things to occupy her day with, a nap was out of the question for her.

"But you’re not a cat, you a human. A mutant to be exact, that happens to have feline characteristics, but never the less a human. Why would you consider yourself a cat just because you look like one?” now that was a confusing statement. This person was feline in nature, perhaps even tendencies, but aside from her mutation, it was all a learned habits and traits. None of them were probably natural, they were things that were nurtured in to because people surely saw her as a cat and not as a person. Or atleast so Sophia believed, such a person couldn’t have naturally obtained such characteristics, but it could have been possible. Sophia wasn’t certain, but why someone would identify as a cat first and not a human puzzled the blonde more than anything.

Regan looked rather puzzled with Sophia’s questions. She didn’t understand what the big deal about her taking a nap was. She was almost feeling like she was getting a lecture from a parent. “It’s true that the day time is a good time to get things done, but again, I have finished all of my work. I don’t have any other plans right now so I decided to relax with a nap. I don’t see the harm in that.” She sighed and shrugged her shoulders slightly. Sophia’s words were making her feel guilty even though she had nothing to feel guilty about. “I expend a lot of energy sometimes so I sleep quite a bit sometimes as well. It’s just what my body needs.” She tried to explain as best she could.

Regan couldn’t help but scoff a little at Sophia’s comment. Did she not see what Regan saw in her reflection? Besides looking like a cat, Regan did share a lot of traits with her feline counterparts. She ate a lot, liked to chase things and climb trees. She liked to snooze in the sun and run around in the snow. “I am more catlike then you think. Sometimes a mutation does more than just change how you look and what you can do. Mine has made me more like a cat. It’s just the way mutations work I suppose.”

"Mutations are such that we take advantage of them when we can. Granted, no one intends to look like cat or have different colored skin at all, but we are all capable of rising above our mutation. For you though, and no offense, but you seemed to have fallen in to your mutation's traits. If science has taught me anything, people look for the simplest explanation or procedure to get what they want. In your case, I bet you saw a cat in the mirror and began adopting their habits and traits, likely from an ironic life time appreciation or love of cats to begin with. But I imagine there's more to you than simply being a cat; you should rise up above it," but then again Sophia was now passing her massive ego's judgment on to another person. If Sophia had continued her thoughts, she might have brought up how people would see her as a cat, and only as one for the rest of time, assuming she acted like it for all of time. They'd never see her as anything else and thus a cycle of emotion distress would likely settle in. Though Sophia saw this as a math equation, how A equals to B, thus equals to C, and so forth. So her view was less tainted on what this cat person wanted and more on what Sophia wanted of them.

"A mutation does not have to be the definition of a person, it sadly becomes that for a few people like yourself, but you can always rise up above people's expectations and make it so they don't judge you unfairly," much like Sophia was doing, but then again, this was normal for Sophia. This higher-than-mighty belief that her thoughts had led Sophia astray before, but they also fueled her desire to be best at any and everything she sought to do. It had helped her, but it rarely helped others, and despite that, Sophia pressed forward, overly critical of a person she hadn't met more than 2-3 minutes earlier. Besides, even if you had to look like a cat, why would you want to act like one?

Regan looked at the blond in utter shock. The words coming out of her overwhelming and even though the woman claimed not to be trying to offend her, she was. Regan had come to the mansion to get away from the judgment of the world, and here this woman was doing it. How did she ever get accepted into the mansion? “First off lady, you are being offensive! Secondly if you took the time to actually listen to the words coming out of my mouth, you would have heard that I am the gardener here at the mansion. How many cats do you know who can garden? And thirdly, I never had any pets growing up so I wouldn’t have some connection with what cats do other than what’s in my DNA! I am who I am and I would really appreciate it if you would stop judging me!” Regan’s arms crossed and she frowned at the woman. This woman had managed to make her feel worse about her mutation in the matter of minutes.

“You mean like you are doing to me right now?” Regan snapped. “You took the simple fact that I enjoy taking naps from time to time and turned it all around so that you now only view me as a cat! I happen to be quite intelligent but you seem to think I’m just some dumb beast like everyone else out there don’t you? Instead you should have taken the time to actually get to know me.” Her own words trailed off as she spoke, clearly hurt by the woman’s words. She looked into the woman’s blue eyes with her own green ones. “I even have a name, but it’s not like you’d even care to know it, I’m just a dumb cat to you aren’t I?”

Well this had gotten out of control rather quickly, and all from a person who didn't understand Sophia's motives either. But not that Sophia was any better, inferring quite a bit without any known research, but alas, Sophia wasn't overly concern with being liked, more or less happy with being understood. She already had plenty of people who didn't like her for being mature and objective about things, and her own brand of egotism didn't help either, but surely the residents of this mansion would understand, "Now I don't recall me ever calling you dumb or even calling you a cat. If anything, I called you human, which is very much what you are. And I'm not trying to judge or be overly critical of you, just moderately critical."

"I rushed to judgment, about you and your life before this, so for that I apologize, but my point is not without merit of purpose. If anything, you have the best chance to rise above it all, more so than I ever will," this still condescending attitude of Sophia's wasn't nice to play with. It probably took someone invested to crack Sophia's shell to get the more kinder Sophia out, or someone with thick enough skin to put up with the more logical version. In either case, this wasn't going well, and even Sophia could judge the atmosphere as being toxic to any sort of consideration in this girl's chances of life. But this, cat like person, she of all people had the best chance rise above the mutation and prove to the world that mutants could be normal people. But her cat like habits and demeanor didn't speak well to mutants being anything but controlled by their powers, and in that was Sophia's biggest problem. For a mutant physically changed, it was either a monster or a person over coming some disadvantage; two very drastic views on a parallel line, and if tipped to one side, it was a monster, tipped to another, it was a person rising above it all. Sophia's purpose and thought process on mutants this far changed by their mutations, but not that she could problem explain it now.

"But let's put that aside. If you were purely objective about it, you act more like a cat than anything else, so I'm only left to assume you think yourself as one until proven otherwise. You're a gardener, which is wonderfully boring to me, but surely you find self satisfaction in it, which is all that should matter. If I were you, I wouldn't let my ego get in the way of enjoying your life. But if I've offended, you, then sorry," though she was sincere about it, it was more or less a throw away. One would have a hard time believing she truly meant it, but her mind having finally caught up with her mouth had meant it. But she truthfully meant her apology, as short and quiet as it was, she was sorry for letting her ego speak for her. Though at this point, she imagined no such apology from her would get her out of the Dog House with this girl, so to speak.