Seifer accepted the handshake. "Excellent," he said after introductions were made. "Now we know each other a little better." "...we watch telly and make coffee together and that is all we do," Blaine said. For someone who doesn't talk much, he seemed to like talking about that cat. "That's nice," Seifer said, trying to change the subject. He looked around for something -- anything -- to talk about. "So what do you think of this ship?" he asked. "It doesn't look very... safe. I don't know much about spaceships, but maybe you do," he added with a nod toward Kiara. He didn't want Blaine to start rambling about his cat again. It was a very touching story, but now wasn't really the time for that.
Sam finally took her hands out of her pockets, found a corner and sat on the floor. Cross legged, she took out a permanent marker and started drawing on the floor. A cat, the first thing she could think of.
Betsy meowed patiently. And Blaine began to pet her again. "I've seen spaceships on a marathon of shows like Star Trek, Battle Star Galatica, and Stargate..they seemed stable to me," Blaine said, "But then again those were props."
Seifer smiled to see a non-cat-related comment out of Blaine. "It would be nice if this were a prop," he said looking at the spaceship. "Couldn't they just make some phony videos of us fighting, broadcast it back to earth, and say we won the war? It would save us all a lot of headache. A lot less dieing too. That would be great." Then he noticed a girl scribbling on the ground with a marker; a picture of a cat. "Uh, oh, she's trying to make a move on your girl," he said to Blaine, sarcastically. "If she takes Betsy from you, who will you watch telly with on those lonely nights?"
Blaine stared at him. "I don't know I rather die then anything else...what really is left for use other then unknown ridicule because someone just doesn't understand what it is like to be some guinea pig," Blaine said, "Don't be taken Betsy from me you here...Betsy saved my life."
"Don't be taken Betsy from me you here...Betsy saved my life." Sam looked up at someone talking loudly in her direction. He was looking at her. "Who me?" she said. Her voice was small. She wondered if anyone could even hear.
"Betsy, nnn?" said Tommy, who Houdini'd into the group. He crouched down and rubbed the cat's chin. "She looks more like a 'Aquamarine' to me." He pretended not to hear the whole 'dying' part of the conversation - he prefered not to think about that. Cat Man was kind of a downer.
"Yeah you," Blaine stared at him. Aquamarine, he raised an eyebrow. "Aquamarine...I could see that only if her eyes or some sort of her nature was aqua like...Betsy fits her fine..she is like a girl and I prefer to give her a girls name," Blaine paused, "My girl likes to be pampered and adored...she likes coffee and likes to be talked to."
What's left for us? Even as the conversation carried on, Seifer couldn't get those words out of his head. All Blaine's got left are lonely nights in front the telly with his cat and cup of coffee. But Seifer had something to live for. He still wasn't sure what, but he knew he didn't want to die here. "There's plenty to live for," he said, though he didn't really believe it himself. "At the least, find something worth dying for. If Betsy really did save your life, that's more reason not to throw it away so carelessly. The love between man and cat is something worth living for." He felt ill. Bringing up other people's morale always meant saying stupid things, but sometimes it was worth it. Sometimes.
Blaine stared at him. "That is one of my biggest arguments with Betsy, she thinks I can still live, I just want to take her down with me," Blaine stared at the floor, "What do I have in this world...that 2 million could get me something real nice, something more then just more life as someone's pet, someone's experiment, they stare at me through this glass and point and laugh....when I first got the money for being some human's pet all I bought was a house and food and it kind of goes to the saying....give a beggar money and he'll just buy bread and when the money's gone he realizes there was more then just bread around him." Blaine stared at the ground and stroked Betsy cautiously. "I rather die then be someone's failed experiment...I have nothing, we have nothing and you know that and its ridiculous to keep up such optimism,"
Blaine watched the girl and then walked over to her. He bent down to be at her level. "Why the heck were your drawing a cat anyway?"
This guy's like a bottomless pit sucking everyone down, Seifer thought when he noticed the girl's reaction to Blaine's comments. All he's good for is hurting everyone, himself included. "That cat has more sense than you," he called out to Blaine. "But it's your life to do with as you please. Die and take your cat with you. Just make sure I'm not around when it happens, okay."
Tommy giggled, scratching Betsy's head. He imagined her drinking outta some cute little coffee mug all cuddled up on a couch by a roaring fireplace with Cat Man. Who, for some reason, wore a top-hat and monocle. Heh. Stereotyping is fun. "There's plenty to live for," Seifer piped up, and Tommy tuned him out instantly. He didn't want to talk about stuff like that. "One of my clients had this cat," he said, for a change of subject, "and he gave him wine, in one of those fancy wine glasses. It was the craziest thing." He giggled. "The guy was a nut, but at least he was good---hey, whatcha drawing?" Tommy turned to the blonde girl as he said this. A nice save, he thought to himself. If I get outta this alive I'm being a frycook or a bus driver or something G-rated, I swear to god...
"I rather die then be someone's failed experiment...I have nothing, we have nothing and you know that and its ridiculous to keep up such optimism." Maybe he wasn't so bad after all. He started walking over, and Sam cowered a little. "Why the heck were your drawing a cat anyway?" "I... just..." she stumbled over her words. "It's just what came to mind. I saw the cat. I drew the cat." She looked into his eyes now and tried to fake a smile. It didn't work.
"Betsy drinks coffee, only coffee...she has the pink mug with a white heart, that is her only favorite cup," Blaine, "Of course she drinks water as well and eats cat food, but her favorite thing is coffee." Blaine stared at the girl. "That the only reason you drew a cat," Blaine's knees were getting tired of being on the hard ship floor, but he rather be at the girl's level then anything else. Blaine stared at the picture again. "To much coffee makes me piss a fountain though,"
Tommy crossed the room and stood beside Blaine. He stooped down over the drawing with his hands on his knees. "I think it's a very nice cat," he said absently, cocking his head to one side. He turned to Blaine. "It's a damn fine cat, isn't it?"
"Not as good looking as Betsy," Blaine said, "And if that is a representation of Betsy, you have her face all wrong." Blaine stared at the floor and grabbed the marker. He drew another cat beside the other cat. "Now that is Betsy has her head and everything," Blaine said. Blaine stared at the marker. "Sorry borrowed your marker,"
Kiara was about to react to all this talk about cats when a head-splitting noise echoed throughout her mind. Something technologic was malfunctioning and affecting her powers. She screamed and fell to the ground. The ship began to shudder and the lights blinked on and off.
"hey, whatcha drawing?" asked the boy who was staring earlier. "Cat," she said, and shrugged. It wasn't bad, either, the drawing. Life-like sleeping cat. "I think it's a very nice cat," he said. She didn't know if he was just being polite... The man with the cat shifted on his knees. He was a very peculiar man. "To much coffee makes me piss a fountain though," he said. Sam giggled at the comment.
Blaine moved quickly the girl who had talked to him earlier as she fell to the ground. He sure made a better second command then the man in the suit did. That's for sure. "Hey you, what's wrong...can you answer cause it would be nice to know what the hell is wrong with you?" Blaine asked.
The peculiar cat man took her marker and drew another cat. Then a woman screamed. It made her jump a little, and she looked at the woman. She was keeled over and holding her head. Sam would run to her aide, but she would be no help. Besides, someone else would do it. Sam walked over to the woman anyway, if nothing than to see what happens. “Are you okay?” she asked.
The ship gave a jolt, the lights flickered, and Tommy was hit with that all-too familiar wave of nausia. He shuddered, standing upright and stumbling backwards. He clasped his hands over his mouth. Another jerk of the ship, flashing lights, and he felt it lap up into the back of his throat. The taste of sugar and artificial cheese, the sting of stomach bile, and, of course, the crawling. Always the crawling. Tommy squeezed his eyes shut, stooping over, trying to steady himself, trying to keep it down. The last thing he needed was to infect somebody.
The pain was intense. Kiara frantically tried to pinpoint the exact piece of technology that was malfunctioning, and therefore, disturbing her link with it, but her pained mind couldn't comprehend it. "Something....aaahhhh...please stop it....aaaaahhh!" Kiara screamed again. That thing had to be destroyed!
Kiara screamed and fell to the floor. Though Seifer was standing closest of all, Blaine got there first. "Hey you, what's wrong...can you answer cause it would be nice to know what the hell is wrong with you?" Blaine asked. "Give her some space," Seifer said, kneeling beside her. He noticed the connection between her collapse and the ship's malfunction. It couldn't be a coincidence. Worst of all, he worried if having her unconscious on the floor put the ship in some kind of danger. What if she died? Would the ship spin out of control or something? "Are you okay," the other girl asked. The same words were running through his mind, but there was too much else going on in his head to speak it. Even when the girl awoke and screamed out, he still feared her presence put them all in some kind of danger. But he didn't know what to do.
