2134/Wayward Kittens

Wayward Kittens
Date of Scene:	23 August 2017
Location:	Woods outside Xavier Mansion
Synopsis:	Lexi tries to leave the Mansion grounds, and runs into Tigger Momma again.
Cast of Characters:	Tendril, Okhotnik

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Tendril has posed:
    It's only a handful of days following the wedding attack, and Lexi has been absent from the woods for days, which is atypical. The tigress has found her scent here and there, but only older ones, the freshest on Dani herself when she visited, though even that was a little faded. Perhaps the kitten has learned to stay home? Though she has been mostly good of late, sticking to the woods before this point.

    Or maybe she was just planning for slipping out again when everyone is distracted with planning the stupid, STUPID crazy plan that's taking three of her best friends (and more in one case) into another dimension! Because the kitten has had several shocks in quick succession, and it's finally gotten too much for her, as she sneaks out of the wellness center, pausing only to snag a few things from her room without waking Dani, then slipping out a window and steathily padding her way out into the woods, starting to parallel the road back to town.

Okhotnik has posed:
Were Okhotnik herself around, she would definitely be tracking and following Lexi's rather unwise move. That and probably stopping the girl, swatting her rather firmly on her backside, and tossing her back over the damned fence in a heap.

But after days out here without human contact, things have slid a bit. Diya was on patrol through the woods, but she didn't see any sign of Lexi being stupid, and she eventually laid down to rest for a while.

Lexi can make it over the fence. Through the woods. Down by the road. But when she gets there, the wildlife goes silent. It's a subtle change, but even a city person might notice it.

What Lexi is almost certain to notice, however, is the quiet form that slinks out of the trees ahead, amber eyes glowing, tail lashing behind her. Ginormous, the tigress watches Lexi, that basso rumble vibrating through the ground and the air around her. She twines around the trees across Lexi's path. Herding. Making it clear naughty kittens will not be going this way. No no.

Tendril has posed:
    It's perhaps a sign that Lexi has started to learn to pay attention to her senses better that she's already slowly, frowning to herself as she notes the lack of sound, crouching down, then her own shimmering golden eyes reflecting the light back as she sees the amber eyes ahead of her.

    She lets out a faint sigh, relaxing a bit. "Hi tigger..." she murmurs softly. "Ya shouldn't be this close to th' road, someone might see ya..." She doesn't immediately seem to realize her path is being blocked deliberately, so much the tiger is coming to say hi, as she approaches, then crouches down, before gently giving the tiger a hug around her thick body, rubbing her cheek against her gently.

    She's moving a bit stiffly, her usual perfect grace hitching slightly as she bends. By this point any blood scent is very faded if it still exists, though she smells strongly of another girl, one the tiger hasn't met yet, mixed with two others who have been close enough to her recently to leave the lingering touch of them in her scent as well. "I should have brought ya a chicken or somethin'...' she mutters to herself.

Okhotnik has posed:
The tigress accepts the hug, but then firmly - in slow motion - headbutts Lexi, pushing her back. Then she steps forward, broad, powerfully muscled chest against the girl, also pushing back. Back. Back the way she came.

The scents are identified, filed away, explored for later. The toy is there, and another the tigress knows; there is a picture of that one as well. But this new scent is the freshest, the strongest. That one will need to be found.

But most concerning are the traces that indicate injury. That basso rumbling grows a bit stronger, more insistent as the head turns this way and that, nuzzling, pushing, checking out each hip, mid-belly, chest, shoulders, knees, looking for the sites of discomfort.

Tendril has posed:
    The first bump causes Lexi to let out a startled sound as she straightens automatically for balance, then the second push has her forced to take a step back again. She's strong, but she doesn't have the leverage to really apply it here. "Hey! Cut it out...' she protests a bit, a hand going to the top of the tiger's head as she vainly tries to push her away as the big cat sniffs...and then halfway across her midsection, when the tiger prods, there's a faint gasp.

    "Ow..." the girl says, not sharply but definitely with a bit of exasperation as well as discomfort in her voice. "Hey, I already had doctors pokin' me there, I don't need ya doin' it too...' she says with a frown, reaching out to scritch behind the tiger's ears. "'Sides, it's fine..." Her voice gets a bit curiously strange, emotions welling up for a moment. "...the doc says I'm gonna be fine in a day or so. Like...I'll always be fine."

    The scritch turns into a soft pet, her fingers running through the tiger's head fur. "...like...forever..' she says quietly. It's still an unsettling thought, what the doctor told her...that she likely won't get old. That she'll always return to what she is pretty much now, her physical peak. Even when others are aging around her...and -that- is what scares her, what she's still struggling with. Because everyone she knows will age. And she'll still be here.

    She shakes her head. "Anyway, I gotta go into town today tigger, so I can't play long..."

Okhotnik has posed:
And the tigress accepts petting and strokes, doesn't push harder than necessary to be keenly aware of where the injury is and how serious it is. But she remains firmly in Lexi's way, and she keeps insistently pushing the girl back the way she came. Just nudges, but firm ones, making her point: no. Kitten belongs back in safety. The tigress cannot understand the mental or emotional pain going on inside the girl; but she understands 'safe' and 'not safe', and kitten out here is 'not safe'. Black and white. Black and orange. Stark contrast.

Tendril has posed:
    Lexi takes a step to the side, trying to get around the tiger, before she's blocked...then a bit faster the other direction as she's blocked again, blinking. "Hey! Look, I'll come back later..." she chides the big cat, then oofs as she's pushed again. "Cut it out!"

    She puts her hands on her hips, starting to protest further before she's forced to take another step back as she's bumped.

    "Hey!" she repeats, frowning down at the big cat. "What's got inta ya?" She huffs. "Fine, if yer gonna be like that...' she says, holding a hand above her as a long tendril flicks out, thickening as she flicks it forward so it wraps it around a branch on the other side of the big cat, then tries to go up and over the furry 'hall monitor' as she flexes to lift herself up and over in a easy swing. "Ha!"

Okhotnik has posed:
The tigress growls in annoyance as Lexi thwips out her tendril, apparently understanding what is happening if not exactly how. When the girl swings away over her the tigres whips around, bounds through the trees, and leaps over to pounce on the girl when she lands.

It's probably the first time Lexi - or anyone - has seen the cat act noticeably smarter, and //faster//, than she appears.

Tendril has posed:
    Lexi is feeling entirely too clever for her own good as she lands....otherwise she would have stayed airborne, rather than pausing to shoot a grin over her shoulder. Her eyes widen as she sees the big cat is airborne already, starting to scramble forward, but not quickly enough as she goes down with a squeal of dismay under the weight of the big cat, landing face first in the scraggly grass between the trees.

    "Ow! HEY!" she protests, more sharply this time. "Dammit...get..ummph!...offa me!" The last comes with some determined wiggling as she vainly tries to dislodge the big cat on top of her. She puts up more of a struggle than a girl her size should, but again, she's not in a position to really get much leverage to do so. Though the tiger may experience the interesting sensation of actually being raised up off the ground as she tries to get a hand under herself, the other arm hopelessly pinned under a huge paw.

Okhotnik has posed:
What was a pleasant rumbling purr of an irked but otherwise contented giant of a feline has now become the hindbrain-numbing terror-inducing growl of an irked, annoyed and genuinely //upset// giant tiger. And as much as Lexi is struggling, the tigress is too, struggling to stay firmly in place sprawled out over top of the girl, despite all that wriggling around.

Most interestingly, however, the tigress still does not use her claws, or her teeth. Just huge, mighty, softly padded paws and her sheerly determined mass of over a thousand pounds of irked Siberian tigress.

Tendril has posed:
    The girl under the tiger freezes at that irritable growl, the sound sending a chill down her spine from the instinctal part of her that fully recognizes that creatures with huge teeth and claws that make sounds like that are dangerous and she should leave the area rapidly. Unfortunately, pinned as she is, she can't do that, though she does stop struggling, then lets her head fall against the grass with an irritated huff of her own.

    "Awww, c'mon, seriously?!" she whines a bit, unable to really look back up at the tiger from how she's pinned. "What the hell, tigger!!" Though there's a weird part of Lexi's brain that almost wanted to add 'mom' to the end of that protest.

Okhotnik has posed:
Ever seen a mother cat deal with a misbehaving kitten? Step one: Mom's paw from on high, until kitten is still. Step two: The Mom Grip, as teeth clamp on scruff and cart said recalcitrant troublemaker back to where he or she 'belongs', according to Mom.

And when Lexi finally stops struggling, when she finally relents and accepts that this is what is happening, that is exactly what follows: Step two. The huge - ginormous - Siberian's big jaw opens, and settles around Lexi's neck. But it does so smoothly, gently. And the teeth do not clamp down. Instead, she wraps her teeth in her lips, and gums the girl's neck firmly.

Best of all, though, that angry growling subsides back into the scolding but loving bigger than life world-encompassing purr.

On the level of instinct, the message is clear: tigger says no. But tigger is not doing so to be mean. Tigger is doing so because she cares.

Tendril has posed:
    It takes a moment for Lexi to realize what's going on, the initial pressure against the back of her neck a suprise that startles her a bit. "W-what..?!?" And then the pressure becomes more firm as she's gripped, drawing a little gasp from her and a squeak. "H-hey!" The girl pants a little, squirming slightly, but otherwise holding still now, though the changing sound at least causes her to relax from her initial tense startlement.

    "W-what...are ya doin'?" she says confusedly, flushing in embarrassement. Gawd, she's glad she's didn't bring Dani along for her intial tiger hunt plan. Or Yana. They'd never let her live this down. Or Boom Boom, because that'd have gone sooo badly with lots of explosions.

    She huffs out again, sending a stray leaf skittering away from her lips, then swallows, going quiet for a moment. She doesn't feel threatened just a little humiliated.

Okhotnik has posed:
If Lexi were truly her recalcitrant kitten, the tigress would just scoop her up by her scruff and cart her back to where she belongs. But Lexi is too big for that; she'd be dragging the girl face-down along all manner of ground and worse. She doesn't want to do that. So instead the tigress steps //over// Lexi, putting herself once more between Lexi and where Lexi thought she was going. And she stands there, watching the girl. Waiting. Waiting to see if the bipedal 'kitten' understands and is smart enough to go back where she belongs.

Momma cat's got some supersized soft paws she'll use to make her point if needed. But not yet.

Tendril has posed:
    As the pressure comes off her Lexi rolls back into a crouch on all fours, blinking at the big tiger as she again firmly puts herself between Lexi and the city beyond. And the mutant girl isn't stupid, as she grrs, then falls back on her butt, supporting herself with her hands. "Seriously?!? First Hottie, now ya don't want me to go either?!?"

    She lets out an overly dramatic groan and falls on her back. "I just wanna get outta the mansion for while! I'm not even gonna -do- nothin'!!" She adds a very put upon whine to the complaint, as only a teen being told she can't do something can.

Okhotnik has posed:
And the tigress just stares at Lexi with that firm, unyielding presence. No growling. No snarling. No biting. Not even any whalloping with big paws. Until Lexi tries to get past her, the tigress just waits right there, ready to pad along beside Lexi and escort her all the way back inside the fence line just to see it done safely.

Tendril has posed:
    The girl finally sits up, picking a small twig out of her hair before it can get a good grip on it, then rolls up to her feet, still a little stiffly. "Now look..." she says, walking closer as she puts her hands on her hips, hoping the reasonable tone in her voice might put the tiger more at ease. 'I just need ta get away from things an' maybe buy some gifts an' stuff." She tries to edge a bit around the tigress as she talks. "I'll be gone, like, an hour, tops!"

Okhotnik has posed:
Note: One cannot negotiate with a tigress. Two-leg mouth sounds carry nothing but the vaguest sense of meaning through tone. So promises to return won't work.

Hence, when Lexi tries to get past the tigress she earns herself a softly pawed whallop against her hip.

No.

Tendril has posed:
    The girl yelps as she's swatted, more out of suprise than any pain as she dances back out of paw range, scowling a bit as she folds her arms under her chest. "Cooome one!" she whines a bit, then grrrs, looking frustrated, then back towards the mansion. She cautiously steps back towards the safety of the mansion fence a little bit. Mostly to see what happens; if she's keeping her away from something specific or just...well, blocking her from leaving.

Okhotnik has posed:
And when Lexi steps back towards the mansion, the tigres steps forward beside her, pressing lightly against her, and escorts her back, one giant loping stride at a time. There's no sign of anything particular; this seems to simply be a case of keeping Lexi at the Mansion.

Tendril has posed:
    Lexi mmphs, grumbling as the tigress follows her, then presses against her, before she scrubs her face with a hand. "Okay, okay, fine..." she says, with poor grace, turning to walk back to the fence line. "Geez, when did they vote ya my mother or somethin'..."

    But even annoyed, she quietly reaches out to pet the tiger's head gently as they walk, falling silent again as her fingers brush through the soft fur absently, her palm smoothing it under her hand.

    When they reache the fence line, the mauve mutant turns to the big cat, frowning a little, then letting out an exasperated sound as she kneels down again, then gives the tiger a quiet hug. "...fine. I'll stay inside. Since it's you." she mutters, rubbing her cheek quietly into the big cat's fur. "I'm gonna hope I can at least go out in th' woods though next time..." she says with a sigh. "I miss climbin'..."

Okhotnik has posed:
And the tigress happily accompanies Lexi all the way back to the fence, gently nuzzling now and then, accepting petting and stroking of her fur. And she leans into the embrace, resting her giant head on the mauve girl's shoulder.

Had Lexi just come out into the woods to climb, she might have been greeted differently. She might have ended up with company, rather than being Mommed back to the mansion. But she'll only find that out if that's what she tries next time.

Because Lexi is a teenager. There //will// be a next time.