Bad Luck: Oh, Marion (Josie)

[Dr. Sean Neville]

((OOC: This takes place sometime after “Bad Luck: At the Zoo”.))

Sean had never given much consideration to cats. As a child, his family had owned a dog. Then he had manifested his powers and moved to Hammel. Then he had stopped having any interest in pet ownership.

Occasionally, acquaintances professed surprise that he was not an animal lover, owing primarily to his liberal politics and hippie self-identity. A few people had told him before that they thought he would like cats, since they were clean and self-reliant. But he had no interest in animal companionship.

Moreover, Josh owned a rabbit, and Mopsy could not stand being around cats. Hearing them nearby was enough to cause her to huddle up in the corner of her cage.

That made the stray cat situation all the more frustrating. She had already taken to hiding in the garage from the cold, but recently she had started sleeping under his car at night. Now he had to check every morning to make sure she was not underneath, before he went off to work or to run errands. Eventually, he would have to find a way to trap her and bring her to the animal shelter to get vaccinations and spayed and then to be put up for adoption.

At the moment, however, he wanted sleep and a remedy. Her cries continued to keep him up at night. The staff lounge sofa was not as comfortable as the one in his office, but he needed the change of scenery.

Idly, he stirred his coffee, trying to find the right combination of coffee, cream, and sugar to appease his palate. His need for caffeine tipped the scales towards tolerating more bitter than he typically would, if it meant that he would perk up a bit quicker.

[Josie Raines]

Josie was completely ready for Hammel's winter break to begin. Not because she personally had anywhere to go; she had volunteered to stay on for the winter and then told her mother that she was sorry, there was nothing she could do, she had the lowest seniority on the custodial staff and they needed somebody to stay behind and clean up after the kids who were also using the school as their holiday home. She felt guilty about it, make no mistake, but it was her first Christmas without Cal in years and Josie wasn't sure if she could handle going home and explaining to her mother, who had always liked him, what had gone wrong.

Before that, though, the bulk of the kids needed to leave. When they did, her workload would be lightened considerably. Right now there were just a lot of kids tracking mud and snow everywhere.

When Josie entered the staff lounge, her hair was pulled back in a bandanna to keep it out of her eyes. She'd just finished the latest round of tidying up the entrance hall and thrown up some "wet floor" warning signs, and was hoping for a bite from the vending machine before bundling up to salt the sidewalks. But, she noted upon entry, the place wasn't deserted; Neville was fixing himself a coffee instead of haunting his own office.

"Save some for me, doc," she told him with a yawn, the day nearly over for her, and she could use the pick-me-up.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean had sensed Josie arrive before she had opened the door and certainly before she had spoken a word to him; such was a fringe benefit of the telepathy. However, he was tired, and although he took great pains to hide his vulnerabilities from the students and the other staff members, he remained human, and exhaustion had a tendency to nip what Josh referred to as his Oracle of Delphi act in the bud.

As soon as she yawned, he did as well and he quickly brought his hand to cover his mouth; the spoon still between his fingers. Once it passed, he nodded, moving out of the way so that she could pour herself a cup. She looked as tired as he felt, although he was sure that her exhaustion came from the necessities of her job, rather than from having her sleep interrupted by a homeless, four-legged critter who spent half the night crying pitifully.

Sipping from his mug did little for his exhaustion, except to remind himself that he didn’t like bitter coffee. It was time to add a bit more sugar. He reached around her for another packet, tearing it open to pour into his brew.

“How has your day been?” Exhaustion was not enough to curb his social instincts.

[Josie Raines]

Josie's change clattered as she inserted it into the machine. The buttons made a loud, satisfying k-chunk noise as she press them, and a moment later a package of peanut butter crackers toppled into the bin.

"Eh, it's been a day," she replied, noncommittedly, as she retrieved her prize. While she waited for the doc to make room at the counter, Josie tore open the package and stuffed a cracker into her mouth.

"Wha' 'bout you?" she asked around a cheekful of crumbs. "Got any more kids to send me? That last one was great - I thought he was gonna cry when he saw how nasty his shoes when we were done." Served him right for wearing brand-new, glossy white sneakers to gardening detention, in her opinion.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean acknowledged that with a nod. At this time of year, the workload shifted wildly between having little and then having a lot. Particularly as a groundskeeper, given the propensity the students had for playing in the snow, and that Vermont had for providing it. Keeping the school accessible was a heavy task in itself.

The telepath then moved out of the way to allow her to spruce up her coffee. He went to sit down on one end of the sofa.

“Thankfully not.” Sean took no pleasure in punishing the students; he had taken on disciplinary duties reluctantly at first, and they had simply increased over the years, as he had gained authority as an administrator. Ideally, no student would fight with or harass another student or staff member, and nobody would cheat , break curfew, or otherwise engage in destructive behavior or substance abuse, and thus he would only see students for mental health concerns, as opposed to serving as the primary low-level disciplinarian. Still, he preferred that the students do something constructive, either by bettering themselves through research and education, or bettering the Hammel community, which was how he had sent Lucas to Josie in the first place. “With a little luck, we can ride out the next few weeks until winter break without incident.”

He could hope.

“Aside from not getting enough sleep, I’m doing fine.” Unfortunately, that was a big aside.

[Josie Raines]

"You gotta stop throwin' so many ragers during the week, doc," Josie told him, voice deadpan as she poured herself a cup. "Save it for the weekends, it'll set a better example."

Whatever it was keeping him up at night, though, she figured it wasn't partying. Realistically, she knew he had to have a life outside of school, but Josie couldn't imagine him spending his nights getting wasted, necktie tied around his head and attempting to boogie down on tabletops.

...Well, she could imagine it, and the idea gave her a chuckle. It just wasn't a good idea to do so, given present company.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Many of his coworkers had never seen him on a bender, which did wonders for his professional reputation and the impression that some of the younger ones had of him secretly being the Wizard of Oz. In life, of course, Sean did drink, and, prior to cutting back for Josh’s benefit, had done so to excess on weekends. Flirting with Josh while drunk had led to all manner of inappropriate interludes, including neckties on the wrong body parts. But he did not dance, and certainly not on furniture.

Of course, none of that applied to his current situation or the lack of sleep. That would at least be interesting and well-earned.

Instead, he couldn’t sleep because of a pitiful cat that had latched onto him for reasons he could not begin to fathom.

“I’ll try to keep that in mind,” he replied, voice also deadpan, before sipping his coffee. He so dearly needed this to help him perk up for the rest of the day.

He paused for a moment, weighing his options, before he asked, “Do you like cats by any chance?” He could probe to find the answer to that question, but that was a waste of energy and an unnecessary violation of boundaries, since, either way, he would need to inquire further if she answered in the affirmative.

[Josie Raines]

Cats? Well that was a little out of left field.

"They're all right, I guess," Josie answered with a shrug. "I'm more of a dog person, though."

It was true enough. When she was a kid, her family had had a cat named Oreo, an explosively fluffy creature who was one of the few on the planet who seemed to like her as much as it did Ronnie. But then he'd gotten out one day when Josie was twelve, and a neighbor had run him over. The Raines debated getting another pet, but nothing ever came of it.

"Why d'you ask?"

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean nodded his understanding. His partner was also more of a dog person, although he considered himself a rabbit person most of all. Josh preferred dogs to cats, and he spent his time now scared that this cat would eat his rabbit. Sean would not allow that to happen.

He yawned and covered his mouth, before answering a bit muffled, “Because I have one and can’t keep her.”

He paused, realizing that sounded a bit different from how he intended it. That sounded as though he had a pet cat and for various reasons, perhaps an allergy, needed to have her adopted by someone else. As though he would ever have a pet cat. As though he would ever have a pet of any sort. He moved his hand away, sure that he would not yawn again.

“My neighborhood has a stray,” he clarified, to make it plain that she was not exactly his cat. “She’s latched onto me for some reason, and she spends all night crying at my door for attention. I need to find a home for her, since she’s latched onto me.”

That expressed the situation better. He felt responsible for her, since she had latched onto him, but she was not actually his cat. She was a stray cat that had taken residence in his neighborhood, and whom none of his neighbors wanted to adopt in the first place.

[Josie Raines]

Had it ever been properly nailed down why yawning was contagious? Josie'd probably heard three or four theories that she could barely remember now. Whatever the reason, it was enough to cause her to mirror the doc's, although she remembered a bit too late to cover her mouth.

The thought that he would rather get rid of a cat than keep one somehow wasn't a surprise. Josie had never given much thought to whether the doc was, say, a cat or a dog person - and between the two it was easier to picture him with a haughty Persian or Siamese than a goof like her Princess - but it was even easier to picture him with a collection of lint rollers arranged by size and color or maybe a rock garden. Hell, maybe that was the problem - the doc acccidentally took in a cat and it mistook his precious rock garden for a litter box.

Shit, duh, he heard that.

"Well, uh - " Josie averted her eyes and hastily chugged a mothful of coffee, searing her tongue. "Howww does she get along with dogs?"

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean didn’t reply to her thought, although he found it unflattering (albeit not offensive). He knew that he could give off that impression to the students at times, and Josie had spent more time as his student and in his office for detention than as a colleague. Although friendly, he knew she would never count him as a friend per se. While neat and organized, he didn’t care about the mess, or even the chaos, which came from pet ownership. He simply couldn’t squelch his discomfort with animals as a whole, and, besides, Josh had a rabbit now and Mopsy stood no chance against a cat, even an underfed stray cat. Especially an underfed stray cat.

“I honestly don’t know.” Sean needed to emphasize that he knew very little about the cat, despite the fact that he had assumed responsibility for her out of a sense of moral and community obligation. She had latched onto him, which made her his responsibility since he could do something for her.

Simply not adopting her himself.

“She doesn’t seem like much of a fighter. She didn’t have any real bruises.” Nothing that indicated fighting, at any rate. Tiny scrapes were inevitable when one lived in the street and had no protection from the elements. “As far as I know, she never got into a fight with any of the neighborhood dogs, or any of the other pets.”

Not that anyone had informed him while complaining about the stray, at any rate. He trusted his neighbors to self-report, and, besides, he had overheard nothing to the contrary via telepathy either.

[Josie Raines]

Why the fuck was she even asking? She didn't have any interest in owning a cat. It wasn't like she hated them or anything, just... One dog was all Josie wanted. All she had time for, really.

...But truth be told, lately it had felt like she didn't have enough time for her dog. If she lived in a house with a yard, like she did before moving back to Pilot Ridge, it would be one thing. But poor Princess was cooped up in an apartment all day while she worked. When she arrived home after a long shift and was greeted with ecstatic barks and sloppy kisses, Josie often felt guilty about leaving the pup all alone for so many hours at a time. Realistically, taking in another animal was a bad idea. But now that the htought had occurred to her, it wouldn't budge.

"...I mean, if she won't tear up all my sh- uh, stuff, I could take her for a coupla weeks while you look for a new owner," she suggested after a moment. Oh, she was going to regret this, wasn't she?

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Neither of Sean’s powers provided him with the ability to simply force her to take a pet against her interest. To create a facsimile of that required far more effort than a mere conversation, and the telepath possessed far too many ethics to try. Certainly he would never break his code of ethics over something as trivial as a cat, even if he wanted her out of his care and somewhere safe, better suited to her.

If necessary, he would remind her of that should she make accusations otherwise later.

“If you’re sure.” He wanted Josie to have as many opportunities to change her mind as possible, although his relief was apparent. If she was willing to take the stray into her home, even temporarily, would lighten his burden. He could better search for a permanent home if he didn’t have to worry about the cat waking him up in the middle of the night.

And, perhaps, Josie would come to care for the cat and bond with it in a way that the telepath could never hope to do with an animal companion.

“I appreciate it,” he told her, and he offered her a grateful smile to underscore that. “If you do want to take her, just tell me when and where to bring her to you.”

He could do so on demand.

[Josie Raines]

"Yeah, why not?" Of course Josie wasn't sure - who just took in cats with next to no thought about doing so? Then again, she'd made far worse decisions on the spur of the moment. Taking in a cat wouldn't even make the top ten unless it totally shredded any chance of getting her security deposit back. And none of those mistakes had ever resulted in the doc owing her a favor. "I'll email you directions or something."

Josie sipped her coffee and thought of Princess; disaster or no, this would be interesting.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“Thank you,” Sean told her, with relief evident in his voice. The grateful smile remained on his lips, since this was a serendipitous solution to the ongoing cat problem. He was sure that Josie wouldn’t hurt the cat, which meant that she would be in good hands.

“You can just email me your address. I know my way around town.” Pilot Ridge wasn’t particularly large, and the psychiatrist had lived here as an adult for longer than Josie had been alive.

Technically, he didn’t need her to send him her address, either, as the telepathy meant that he could pick up on it easily enough. However, as he knew she wasn’t entirely comfortable with his power, and hadn’t been as a student, he saw no reason to compound that by giving off the disconcerting impression of him as an omniscient stalker.

However, before he could continue the conversation, the door to the lounge opened to reveal one of the security guards. “Do either of you want to help me take down a bear on the edge of the courtyard? We think it’s a student, but all of the trainers are in class right now.”

A bear.

Truthfully, Sean didn’t want to take down a bear, but he would do it anyway, since a student needed help. And the other students didn’t need to worry about a bear stalking the grounds. “I’ll be right there.”

To Josie, he said, “Thank you again.” Then he rose to his feet and followed the guard outside.