Game On.

Battle of wills

The little girl let out a small gasp as she saw him. He watched as she studied him, still perfectly controlled and calm. She stared into his eyes, almost challenging him with her glare.
The next words shocked him.
"What are you?"
Not who, but what, meaning that she could tell he wasn't human. And that just heightened his curiosity. Once again, his eyes strayed to the scarring on her face, a million new possibilities occurring to him. She knew about people like him, he could tell that from her face now, explaining why she seemed so calm. But the question was, how?
The girl, noticing his direction of sight, shifted her hair so it hung over one half of her face, creating a curtain to hide her injury. Her expression changed to defensive.
"Answer me, please "
"You can call me Julian"
"I don't care. I asked what, not who."
There was no fooling this one. For a six year old, she was surprisingly smart and mature. Deep inside himself, Julian could feel his competitive nature stirring. They were both playing a game here, a battle of wills, and his inner shadowman was determined to win. But so was the purple eyed girl.
Julian smiled cunningly, having fun.
"Now then, that's not polite. I was introducing myself, so that we could have a friendly conversation. And you now have an advantage. You know my name, but I don't know yours. So tell me, who are you?"
The little girl smiled, a cunning, wicked glint in her eye. She tilted her chin up in a stubborn expression, defiance written all over her face.
"Not telling!"
Now Julian was really enjoying himself. He pretended to think for a moment, studying the girl.
"Is it... purple eyes?"
He mock guessed, a teasing look on his face.
" Little princess? Rosy cheeks?"
He chuckled to himself at the little girls irritated expression as she shook her head, saying no to each one.
"Baby bird? Little cub? Petal?"

"Its Cat. Catherine, actually."
Julian was internally laughing at the seriousness of this child. Yet, he knew that she was playing along, and enjoying this as much as he was.
"Cat? Your not big enough to be a cat. You're hardly a kitten!"