They split the secret up six ways before they gave it to us just before dawn... [Open]

[notfauxlivia]

Olivia never had cats. Pets were just never a great idea at any point in her life, for one reason or another, and no one ever told her how cats have some kind of sworn duty to make sure no actual work gets done in any room they have access to.

So it kind of takes her by surprise when the table she appropriated in the castle library gets swarmed by

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[tenoroftheskies]

Tempest clucks scoldingly in the doorway and the cats don't so much scatter as they stretch in languid unison and settle in. The woman laughs and strides over to join Olivia at the table. She's wearing pants, a long-sleeved shirt and a leather apron splashed with machine oil.

"They do as they will, regardless of our wishes. Even mine."

[notfauxlivia]

"That's what I've heard." Olivia shifts in her chair as Tempest approaches, straightening and coming to a sort of wary attention without actually rising to her feet. "I just always thought they'd be more... aloof? But I guess the talking ones probably don't count as normal cats anyway."

Somehow, she manages to make that sound... almost normal. It's amazing the kind of things you learn to take in stride after working with Walter Bishop. The cat on the book closes his eyes, still purring and seemingly pretending he can't hear and doesn't understand her.

"I hope you don't mind me going through your library, I'm just... I'm curious." About this place, and how they got here, and maybe she hasn't found anything all that helpful yet, but Olivia's nothing if not persistent.

[tenoroftheskies]

"A cat is a cat," Tempest says. She sits down across from Olivia, stroking lightly at one of the closest animals. "Though the ones that can speak are perhaps more smug."

The animal she's petting shifts from the table to her lap. Tempest picks up the book it was sprawled across. "I would not grant you access if I was uncomfortable with the idea of you reading. What interests you?"

[notfauxlivia]

"Well, how we got here, for one thing."

She says it like it's just a little thing, interesting and a little annoying but not vitally important, but she's watching Tempest intently, trying to keep the fear and confusion out of her expression and only mostly managing. She was not ready for another universe even further removed from the one she just left, and telling herself she's okay only goes so far no matter how many times she does it.

"From everything I know, everything anyone's ever told me and that I've ever seen, that kind of travel shouldn't even be possible without... serious consequences."

[thumbcocked]

Lia's never had a pet either. She hasn't actively tried to figure out just how what she is figures into how any kind of pet would react to her - stray dogs seemed to be slightly friendlier, and stray cats seemed to keep away, but. It wasn't like cats thought she had the plague or dogs thought she'd rolled in fresh shit. So. Whatever, right?

But ever since chilling in the castle, she could swear these cats were judging her mercilessly. All the time. It's not helped by the fact that wherever she walks, there's about a three-foot bubble around her which no kitty breaches. Suuuper creepy, if slightly helpful in that she hasn't tripped over the damn things yet. So. Bonus? Slightly?

"Not really thinking that's high on their list of priorities. Or that they have priorities beyond catnip, fish, and squeaky mice."

Yeah, they haven't deigned to speak to her. So she doesn't know they're anything other than really snooty-acting.

[notfauxlivia]

Olivia manages not to start at the unexpected voice - except for the cats, and Tempest, she hasn't really talked to anyone in the castle since she arrived, and she kind of appreciated the time to herself. She can't remember the last time she even got a few days to herself, but she's pretty sure it was well before she joined Fringe Division.

She glances up with a faint smile, studying the girl for a moment. She thinks she recognizes her from the junkyard, which means she's probably not from this universe - and that it's at least as strange to her as it is to Olivia.

"Well, this one does, at least," she answers, with a nod to the cat she'd been talking to. "I'm starting to think they might involve driving me crazy, but I think I can handle that."

"Not your book," the cat comments, as if that justifies everything, and stretches without actually getting up.

[thumbcocked]

"Yeah, the creepy staring is definitely helping with the crazing," she replies with a small frown, looking around at the furry interloping things. "Juuuust a bit. Kind of a sad lack of hobby, but whatever."

She's about to stick her hands in her pockets when the cat goes and. Speaks. Which just. Okay, she needs a minute to process that.

"...Did." Lia stares at the cat on the table, eyes slightly bugging out. "Did that cat seriously just talk? Like - I haven't snapped and it seriously just said something. Out loud."

[notfauxlivia]

"Yeah, they do that," she says, completely matter of fact, like she got talking cats all the time back home. She didn't, but talking cats are actually a refreshing change in strangeness from people's heads exploding and children being drained of life energy and all the rest of it.

She reaches out to scratch under the cat's chin, hoping it'll distract him from commenting again and unsettling the girl any more. At least for the moment, it seems to be working as he leans into her hand and purrs a little louder.

"You got here when I did, didn't you? With the junkyard and the... creature with all the tentacles and everything?"