Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 4
Chapter 3: Kitty versus the Cat Lady
Kitty gave a sigh as she entered the old building Remy's apartment was in. She felt so emotionally and physically drained that she could fall asleep at any moment. In the hall, she could hear someone's music blasting, and she winced as it seemed to echo off of the walls. She headed up the staircase, holding onto the banister, and yanking her hand back when it began to shake violently, and a soft cracking sound seemed to indicate that some part of it had broken.
She asked herself incredulously why was Remy staying in some place like this. He wasn't exactly poor, and could afford much better. Somewhere more hygienic and more freshly scented, she decided as she approached the second floor.
An old woman was standing on the landing, holding a very large fat grey tabby cat in her arms, the cats icy blue eyes focused on Kitty and narrowed a little and the cat let out a fierce hiss, its mouth drawing back revealing its sharp teeth. Kitty jumped back a little.
"You don't live here…" the woman, who had tangled wiry grey hair jutting out from under an old woollen hat, her lips pursed as if in disgust of Kitty's presence.
Kitty approached the door to Remy's apartment, taking the spare key out of her pocket. She'd asked why he should bother giving her the key, since her powers allowed her to walk through walls, using a key was a waste of time. Remy had insisted, saying that the neighbours were queer, and didn't like 'strange folk'. Kitty assumed he meant mutants.
"I'm staying with a friend," Kitty remained calm, she put the key through the lock and tried to turn it, but the lock was stiff, and refused to do so.
"That man is no good," the cat woman replied, sounding rather like a cat in the way she hissed the words, "all kinds of strange sounds comin' from in there…probably dealing drugs or pimping the number of young girls you see go in to that place – probably a brothel!" her dull grey eyes narrowed as if in anger, "prostitution is a crime, you know," she uttered at Kitty, then, promptly stepped through the open doorway at her back and slammed the door behind herself sharply.
Kitty's mouth dropped, she wasn't sure if the woman had just accused her of prostitution or not, and she wasn't sure what made her snap – perhaps the emotion that was still welling up within her that her parents had recently died and she needed an outlet for her own anger. Whatever the answer to her frustration was, she headed over to the woman's door, leaving the key sticking out of the lock of Remy's door, and she banged her fist upon it.
The door opened a crack, a chain lock preventing it from opening anymore, the old woman peered from between the door that hung slightly ajar, the cat seemed to peer out also, looking rather protective of its owner.
"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?" Kitty demanded abrasively, "I'm not a prostitute, and I'd just like to point out instead of worryin' about what the man I'm living with is doing in that apartment, why don't you clean your damn apartment up, you've got this whole fucking building smelling like a fucking toilet!" Kitty yelled, she felt a hand soft on her arm, she turned and saw Remy looking distinctly aloof with a pair of sunglasses hiding his eyes, he'd obviously just arrived.
"You ought to get that little slut told, you kids think you can treat anyone the way you want!" the woman yelled out at Remy.
Remy didn't respond, he simply grabbed the doorknob of the old woman's door and yanked it so the door shut rather loudly, then he headed over to the door of his own apartment and managed to open it with a quick twist of the key Kitty had left sticking out of the lock, "don't mess with the neighbours," he said as they both entered the apartment, he shut the door behind Kitty.
"She called you a pimp!" Kitty was fuming, she wrung her hands out in annoyance.
"Old bitch calls me a lot of things," Remy said nonchalantly, he reached to a light switch on a nearby, the lights flicked on, he nodded to himself as in satisfaction, "I could recite a whole list of the things she's called me," he added, "pimp, drug dealer, junkie, rent boy…" he listed absently.
"Rent boy?" Kitty raised an eyebrow, "Why does she call you that?" she asked, still feeling rather indignant about the way she'd been treated by the old woman in the hall.
"Basically because she's seen a lot of male clients come into the apartment – collecting the stuff I stole," he explained, and crossed the room while he pulled the sunglasses off.
Kitty noted he'd changed clothes, now, he was wearing the oldest looking trenchcoat she'd ever seen in her life, it was brown, dirty, and slightly threadbare in places, the elbow had been patched, and a few places on the back of the coat had been sewn carelessly.
"Where the hell did you get that old thing?" Kitty queried, making a face of disgust.
"Was my fathers," Remy responded, "kinda grown attached to it."
"It looks older than you are," Kitty folded her arms.
"It is," Remy assured, he turned towards her, under the coat she could see he was wearing ripped jeans, and a plain black t-shirt, he had a grocery bag under his arm she'd failed to notice earlier, "listen, don't talk with the neighbours, if they find out I'm a mutant, I'll be kicked out and I don't have an emergency dwelling to keep this stuff," he pointed towards the stacks of boxes filled with 'merchandise' as he'd called it.
Kitty sat down on the couch, rubbing her temples.
"Headache back?" Remy asked, he glanced at the clock, it had been six hours since Kitty had ventured out of the apartment to deal with arranging her parents funeral.
Kitty sighed, "yes…I…god," she shook her head, "I want this all to be over," she let out a sob.
Remy dropped the grocery bag on the floor by him, yanked off his trenchcoat, and tossed it so that it was sitting on the windowsill, he sat beside her, "it will be…soon."
Kitty put her hands to her face, "why didn't I go when she asked…"
Remy knew what Kitty meant, only nights ago he'd stumbled into the recreation room while Kitty had been on the phone with her mother who had been begging Kitty to visit. "You didn't know any better, Petit. Besides, if you'd gone…you might have died with them."
Kitty looked at Remy through teary eyes, he looked tired, and distant, more detached than she was used to seeing him, she found herself wondering if this was really how he always was, or if it was the pills he'd been taking. "Are you okay? You sound weird…" Kitty tried to quickly wipe her tears on the sleeve of her dark blue denim jacket.
"I'm fine, worry bout yourself," Remy patted her shoulder and got up, "How did the meeting with your cousin go?"
Kitty sighed, "Hadn't seen her in two years, she's pregnant. Go figure," Kitty rolled her eyes, "she made all the arrangements, I felt like I didn't have a say in anything…" more tears came and she wiped them away quickly, she'd cried during most of the time in the funeral directors when they'd been going through all the arrangements.
"You should have stood your ground," Remy picked up the bag of groceries and headed off into the kitchen, Kitty got up and followed, "did you call the mansion and let them know you're okay?" he asked.
"No," Kitty sighed, "I don't really feel like talking to them all right now…they'll be full of that overly-sympathetic nature that'll just make me cry even more…at least you're not givin' me that shit," she admitted with another sigh, she watched him unloading the groceries from the bag, it seemed strange to be watching him do so, she'd never pictured Remy as a domestic type of man. Grocery shopping? She'd expected the only time she'd see him go to a grocery store was if he was out of cigarettes and beer.
"You need your friends at a time like this, petit," Remy lit himself a cigarette, and it dangled from his mouth as he opened the fridge and began to put things away, including a six pack of cheap beer.
Kitty gave a shrug, hugging herself, she felt her eyes well up again, but forced the tears back and tried to quickly change the subject, "what's with your hair?" she sniffed.
Remy paused, then turned to her, his expression blank, "what's wrong with my hair?"
"Its too long, that's what's wrong with it," Kitty responded, "you could donate that to charity and some poor person with cancer could have a wig out of that," she added thoughtfully.
"My hair is fine," Remy assured, he flicked his cigarette ash out the open window, "You reminded me of Rogue just now," he admitted after a time, "she always had something to complain about…somethin' she wanted me to change about myself…smokin'…hair…goatee," he scratched his chin thoughtfully, he hadn't shaven in a few days but he no longer maintained a goatee.
Kitty knew only too well what he was talking about, she had experienced similar things with her parents, "yeah, my parents were that way," she sighed, "grow your hair long, and always wear it back, always wear a sweater, always date a man with money, don't get a tattoo," she rolled her eyes, "they had a heartattack when I cut my hair," she twirled a lock of her short shiny brown hair absently.
Remy looked at her, "sometimes when I was an X-Man…" he sighed, "I got sick of livin' up to what everyone else expected of me, it was hard to remember where the real me ended and the goody-two-shoes me began," he admitted, he closed the refrigerator.
"I guess that means you won't be joining us again then?" Kitty asked.
Remy gave a very distinctive shake of his head, no was definitely the answer, Kitty felt slightly disappointed. Remy recomposed himself from his morose attitude, "anyway, I'm gonna make us dinner – don't worry, no meat, I know you're a vegetarian. But it'll be spicy, so prepare yourself," he grinned.
Kitty smirked a little, a trace of the old Remy LeBeau beginning to show through in him again and it was comforting, she watched him as he began to prepare the food, she realised this might be a good time to thank him for his hospitality – however uncomfortable staying in the apartment was.
"I…really appreciate this you know," Kitty admitted softly, she reached out and touched his back gently. "One day I'll make it up to you."
Remy stopped for a moment, and he glanced over his shoulder at her, "you already have – by not having told Rogue or anyone about what I told you," he reminded, he turned towards her, wiping his hands off on a dishtowel – he'd been rinsing off some green peppers in the sink.
She stood on her tiptoes to hug him – as he was considerably much taller than herself – her arms wrapped around his neck, she felt his surprise at this, but felt his arms wrap gingerly around her almost as if he was afraid she was perhaps to frail to take the pressure of his arms. It felt good to be hugged by him – the scent of his cologne, faint perspiration and nicotine overwhelmed her, as did the warmth of his body.
Remy felt rather awkward holding her, she was vulnerable and over emotional, and he'd been able to see it etched on her face just before she'd put her arms around his neck to hold onto him. And somehow, he knew what was going to happen even before it did, but his response time wasn't quick enough to prevent it – her lips had found his, catching him in a very unwelcome kiss.
Despite he'd predicted it milliseconds before it had occurred, it still caught him completely off guard as if it had been unexpected. His thoughts screamed at him. The part of him that needed affection wanted him to carry on letting her kiss him, but the other part of him – the part that was distraught – reminded him Kitty was his friend, the ONLY friend he had. And friendships always became undone by things such as this. His skin prickled under the touch of her bare fingers upon his neck, and he felt himself shivering uncontrollably as her lips moved softly against his.
He pushed her away from him in a careful way, he didn't want to seem angry with her, or disgusted by what she'd just done.
Kitty noticed the few small sparks of blue light that seemed to jump from his skin so fast she was barely sure she'd really seen it. She chose not dwell on that, the sudden realisation of what she had just done seemed to slap her in the face with a harshness. Had she really just kissed him? She felt her cheeks redden, and she put her hands to her mouth, "Oh my god," she whispered. "Oh my god, oh my god," she was nearly to the point of tears again.
Remy put his hands up as if he were trying to defend himself, "its not that I don't want to," he said quickly, his accent seemed to become thicker with the stress of trying to explain himself. "I'm just…I'm not…I mean…"
Kitty looked at him, the shock of what she had done taken over by his response, "huh?"
"I mean…I'm not attracted to you," Remy finished, he stepped back, hoping to god he wasn't about to be slapped, "not that you're not attractive…" he added very quickly.
Kitty rubbed her forehead, "that wasn't meant to happen," she groaned, she chewed so hard into her lip it was close to bleeding.
Remy agreed, "yeah."
Kitty put her hands to her eyes, "I just…god I don't know, I don't know why I did that…" she lamented, and it was true, she didn't. She had no clue. She wasn't particularly interested in Remy as anything more than a friend, and although the man was beyond extremely good looking with his rugged features and those incredible ebony and ruby eyes of his, she had never been attracted to him in the way most other woman found themselves to be. "God, I'm so sorry…that was the most insensitive thing I could have done…" she said.
Remy ran his fingers through his hair absently, "its not your fault," he reminded, "You're mournin'…who knows why it happened, maybe you just…unconsciously reached out for some kind of affection?" he shrugged, "I don't know, I'm not a psychologist…"
Kitty turned, "I need…to…uhm…get out of the kitchen now…" she said quickly.
Remy nodded swiftly, "yeah, good idea…too many cooks spoil the broth as they say," he feigned a grin, and watched her go, feeling relief surge through him when she was out of the room, but he distinctly heard herself call herself stupid from the living room.
"Stupid stupid stupid."