Re: NM: Cat & Leena
Cat laughed, and the sound was warm and husky and aged-unhurried. "That is quite possibly the best compliment you could've given me, kitten." Bruce had always been older, always seemed older. Cat had met him when she was barely a teenager, and Bruce had always felt like he knew more, knew better. Well, she'd met the Shadow then. Bruce came after, and she hadn't been terribly impressed at the time. But, Cat, older, wasn't blind, and she didn't move to touch Helena again, not after that guardedness that she sensed after the touch to the girl's cheek.
Instead, she walked and she listened. No rush, letting Helena set the pace, and Cat looked around with interest. This place said something about her daughter, and it said something that Helena was comfortable here, that she'd chosen this. Cat paid attention, glancing to girls and computers. "I've never done therapy, not beyond the government insisting I talk to someone after difficult missions. I would think churning up shit would be hard," she continued, deliberately using Helena's own words. "I'm not sure I could do it," she admitted, and that was an unspoken compliment, words of pride that Helena could face that kind of thing when she, herself, couldn't.
Cat noticed the kitten's lack of lingering, but she just followed. Instead, she hummed her pleasure at the entire concept of sushi. "Sushi is something Repose doesn't have," she said and without wistfulness. "I'm not sure I've ever had cornbread. It always sounded so... corn-ish." Light talk, easy and no pressure, and she was surprised at the comment about not eating, unbidden as it was. "I was worried the last time I saw you. You looked thin," she said, which was a complete understatement, and her mossy gaze flickered over the girl scuffing her toe against the floor. "Can I ask why you couldn't eat? Not hungry? Or something else?" It was a desire to understand, but Cat kept her voice calm and casual. "If you don't want to explain, you don't have to, but I'd like to understand. I find I'm not very good at understanding motivations that aren't my own." She lifted a shoulder that was all awareness of her own flaws. "I'm a little selfish that way. You might have noticed somewhere along the way."