The Study Of Feline Friends

[Nikkeh [Love]]

Caleb silently turned the pages in his book, studying the pictures closely. The pictures were colorful, yet not a child's book. This was for important study. The picture was of a bengal tiger, stalking in the forest, presumably after its next meal. Caleb studied the picture for a second, then turned the page once more, now looking at a picture of a tiger swimming in a pond.

He still couldn't transform into a tiger. He didn't know why, but it was to complicated, and instead he'd turn out looking like a cheetah with stripes. There was so much more he needed to know about tigers. But of course, the people at the shelter never tought him how to read, so he can only stufy the pictures closely before turning the page once more.

With his elbow on the table and his head resting on his hand, Caleb blinked his strange, bright green eyes, lowering his head slightly when someone walked by. He'd never get used to the stares people give him. Do other gifted people feel this way? Caleb wouldn't know. He's never met another gifted person before. Which was strange, seeing as the ruins of an old gifted school were barely 10 minutes away. But of course, that could have scared all the gifted people away.

Caleb sighed. He turned the page.

[[S]ara]

"Please calm down, you emotional breakdown is not helping this headache I have!" Alex pleaded to a little girl that was seated in the childrens section. The girl stopped crying and looked up at Alex, then pouted out and let out a peirceing wail. "No no no!" he groaned, placing his hands on his head and looking around desperatly. /Ugh, why did I have to be nice and let the little girl relive her happiest moment, only to cause her to miss it and sob./ Alex's mind muttered as his hands twitched violently.

To an onlooker it might seem as if the twitching of Alex's hands ment he was about to slap the girl, but no. It was from the aftereffect of his gift that caused his hands to twitch violently. "Little girl, please relax. Calm down..look, why dont we find you a nice book, about, about a tiger?" Alex said hopefully. The girl paused again from her emotional breakdown and looked up at Alex. "You mean, Tigger?" she sniffed.

/Whats a Tigger?/ Alex asked then mentally slapped himself, /Oh yeah. Winnie the Pooh./ "Yeah, Tigger. Lets go find a book about Tigger." his voice was just as shakey as his hands, and Alex took the girl by the hand and began to lead her towards the books about tigers and Tiggers.

[Nikkeh [Love]]

Caleb glanced over in annoyance at the little girl who was crying, and at the guy who seemed to have made her cry. Trying to focus on the picture in front of him, Caleb heard the boy and little girl talk about looking for a book about tigers. Without even looking up from the book, head still resting on his hand, Caleb said, "You'll probably find the best tiger books in that section." Caleb nonchalantly gestured to a nearby aisle. Maybe now the little girl would stop crying.

[Delerium]

It was so stuffy in here! Ah well, at least she'd lost them for now...
Stupid cops. She'd tried talking to them and what did they do? They tried shooting her in the butt with a tranquilizer dart! How rude!
It was the first time since her escape she was thankful of her thick fur; the dart hadn't been able to penetrate it.

But now what could she do? She was stuck in the ventilation system of some random-ass building with no way to get back to the roof, and voices below her every time she found an opening. And not only that, the grates were screwed shut; Cassidy didn't think the grates would pose much of an obstacle what with the strength of her body, but it was sure to create an awful racket...

Being stuck in the body of a snow leopard seriously sucked at times...

Oh wait, what was this?!

Cassidy nearly whooped with joy; an opening in the vents that wasn't covered with a grate! Crawling over ot it, Cassidy stuck her head and looked around below her. Well, there were people, but - oh? They seemed to be walking away! And there was a huge bookshelf right below her! This was the first spot of good luck she'd had all day.

With a final glance around, Cassidy exited the ventilation system and landed gracefully on the shelf top, her heavily furred paws making little noise.
Her elation was short lived though; now, what next?

[[S]ara]

Stopping, Alex glanced over at Caleb as he spoke to the girl and himself. "Hmm, thanks. There yah go, now run along and read up on Tigger." he commanded the brat who trotted off down the aisle.

Watching her go Alex turned back around to Caleb, "Thanks, but how'd you know that?" he asked curiously, his hands had stopped twitching by now and it had switched up into his left eye.

[Nikkeh [Love]]

Caleb, hearing a soft noise, looked up at the bookshelfs, staring intently, then turned his head to look at the boy. "I come here everyday, studying tigers. I tend to know where a lot of the tiger books are." Swiftly, Caleb grabbed his book and stood, giving the boy an odd stare before turning away. Was the kid twitching? Maybe he was insane. What a freak.

Walking a short distance to the nearest shelf, Caleb glanced behind him at the boy, then neatly put the book back in its rightful place. Blinking a couple times, he thought back to the sound he heard. To him, it sounded a lot like a cat landing after a fall, on its feet. But why would there be any type of cat inside the local library? Shrugging to himself, Caleb rested his hand on the corner of the bookshelf, and without turning around, asked, "So what's your name? And what'd you do to make that kid so upset?"

Caleb decided he would make some small talk before going out and attempting to transform into a tiger. Hopefully.

[[S]ara]

/I hate to think this but, this guy is totally cute. It'd be sad if he's straight.../ Alex's mind decided as he watched Caleb walk back to the shelf then glance back atc Alex. Sitting down at the table, Alex looked up at Caleb, and with all his force moved his twitchingness back down into his hands. Hiding his hands under the table as they twitched, "I'm Alex..Alex Walker and eh, well see it wasnt really my fault. I just let her relive her happiest moment and she sorta...began to miss it." his voice dropped down into a meak tone.

[Delerium]

Stupid stupid stupid!
Cassidy cursed herself over and over. She was in a library! How the hell could she possibly get out of here without attracting a truckload of unwanted attention?!

Her heart was pounding - especially when that boy suddenly looked up at where she was. Hoo man...
What was that? He was going on about tigers? Well, Cassidy was SOL then; snow leopards didn't have as large of fan base, did they.
But, what if... maybe...

An idea occured to her - a stupid one, but right now she figured it was her only option.
Following the youth, creeping with her body low to the shelf, Cassidy whispered, "Hey, hey you! Up here! But please, for the love of anything holy, don't scream..."
She held her breath while she waited for his reaction.

[Nikkeh [Love]]

Caleb turned to face the boy, Alex, with an amused sort of expression on his face, then whispered, "So you're gifted?" As Caleb waited for his answer, he heard a voice coming from on top of the shelf. Turning away from Alex and looking at the top of the shelf, he saw that he was right in a way. There was a cat in here. A large cat. A leopard, from the looks of it. Glancing back at Alex, he decided that he probably wouldn't freak, since he was probably gifted as well. Looking up at the leopard, he said quietly, "I won't scream. What are you doing? And how are you talking?"

[[S]ara]

"Heh, yeah I'm a gifted." he sighed with a bit of humor. Then hearing the voice also, Alex looked up and also so the cat. /Whats with all the talking animals?/ he pondered eye's widening slightly. "Er need some help?" Alex muttered out into the air.

[Delerium]

Cassidy's ears flattened and her nose wrinkled in irritation. "That's not important right now!" she hissed.
Boys...
Creeping a little closer to the edge of the shelf, Cassidy then whispered, "Look, I'm just... different, ok? It would take too long to explain the nuances of how I can talk and how I got here. Help me get out of here quietly and I'll tell you my life story if you want. I can't stress the quietly part enough, guys... I need to get out of here. Pronto."
A sound caused her to glance around fearfully, her ears swivelling independently of each other. "I can't let them catch me... I won't let them catch me..."
Cassidy cocked her head to one side and glanced down at the pair again, an eerily human expression on her feline face. "You'll help me, right? Please?"

[Nikkeh [Love]]

Caleb watched the leopard silently, then smirked. "Of course we'll help. I can make a distraction." Caleb looked around him quickly, making sure no other people were around. There weren't. Closing his eyes for a second, Caleb reopened them and began to transform into a white tiger. Standing on his hind legs, Caleb was almost taller than the bookshelf itself. His paws, almost three times the size of a grown man's hand, rested quietly on the edge of the bookshelf. He could now see the leopard perfectly. His bright green eyes blinked in understanding, then amazement. He had finally been able to transform into a tiger! But he had no time to get used to it, he had to help out this leopard.

"Alright," He began, voice still humanly, but with a slight growl to it. "I'll run through the library, and bingo. Distraction enough. You should be able to slip through unnoticed if you keep to the bookshelves." Caleb took his paws off the book shelf and his front paws landed on the ground with a slight thump. Turning his head to look at Alex, he added, "I'm gifted too, if you didn't notice." Smugly, he swung his tail and accidently hit Alex's leg. Hearing a sudden scream, Caleb's ears instintively folded against his head and he croughed lower, spinning around to see the person who screamed. Remembering the plan, Caleb nodded his huge head at the leopard. "Meet you outside!" He said, not a question. He had to talk to this person some more, Alex too. Bolting away from the two, Caleb ran past groups of people who screamed and panicked, running in different directions.

[[S]ara]

Alex stood up quickly as he watched Caleb transform,"Amazing." he commented then laughed when Caleb's tail thacked his leg. "Ok see you outside." Alex agreed and turned around suddenly his face falling under deep consintration, "People, please remain calm your minds are about ot be refreshed." Alex's voice was silkly and the people screaming stopped their cries and stared back at Alex all of them looking in an eery trance.

/Memories..happy..sad...fill their minds..../ Alex thought hard as his hands became rigged and the emotions seeped out into the room. Once everyone had a strong memory in their mind, Alex whipped around and bolted after Caleb and Cassidy. On his way out Alex's eyes scanned across the librarins table and caught a glimpse of a book labeled, "Cassis, present:past:future" mentally shrugging Alex scooped up the book and continued his follow outside.

[Delerium]

For a moment, all Cassidy could do was just sit there and blink in amazement. The kid had just transformed into a tiger. A tiger! He'd closed his eyes and - poof!
"Umm, w-wow... I don't know what to say..." Cassidy sputtered out when she found her voice again. "Uh, yeah... r-right! Thanks! Meet you outside!" To say this was bizarre would be an understatement, but Cassidy wasn't about to question her good fortune. Things could be explained later; right now, she needed to cheese it. With a big white tiger romping around, no one would expect to see a snow leopard hopping across bookshelves.

But what was it tiger-boy had said? "I'm Gifted too, if you didn't notice."
Well, that was one way to put it. She wondered what constituted being 'Gifted'...

Ask later! Get moving, fur ball! her mind screamed at her.

With all the grace and stealth her feline form could muster, Cassidy hopped from bookshelf to bookshelf, making her way to a side door that had been left open to allow a breeze into the buidling. She didn't bother checking between the shelves before jumping, having faith that tiger-boy had scared everyone out by now.
Reaching the door, Cassidy wriggled out and bounded across the small pathway and into the copse of trees beyond. She didn't stop until she was halfway up a tall cedar. Stretching out on a large limb, she let out a sigh of relief and swept the area, keeping an eye open for tiger-boy and his friends. Cassidy had a lot of questions she wanted to ask, and she didn't doubt for a second that the feeling was mutual.

[Nikkeh [Love]]

Caleb stopped in the middle of a frantic crowd and glanced over his shoulder, seeing now that the leopard had made it outside and that Alex had successfully put several people into a trance. Not in this part of the library, though. People continued to scream and run in what looked like slow motion. Deciding it was time to leave now before a dog-catcher or soebody showed up, Caleb let out a loud roar, making a few people scream, then turned and ran towards a side door that he remembered was open.

As he ran between two bookshelves, Caleb swiftly turned from a tiger to an average, white house cat, still having his bright green eyes. Running through the open door, Caleb stopped and listened for a second. No people were around here, but apparently the leopard was very good at keeping quiet. Now beginning to run again, Caleb went to the small group of trees beyond the library. Remembering what he knew about leopards, Caleb looked up into one of the trees, and after some strained looking, he spotted the leopard. Climbing the tree with some difficulty, Caleb crawled onto the branch below the leopard and sat on his haunches.

Tilting his head to the side at the leopard, Caleb began to transform back into his human form, some faint black lines visible on his arms from where he had transformed into a tiger. Caleb blinked once, shaking his hair out of his face, and, on his knees, attempted to adjust himself to where he didn't feel like he was going to fall out of the tree. Letting out a sudden, short laugh, Caleb said, "Well, that was fun."