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 Posted: Thu May 12, 2016 6:57 pm
Finals were over at this point and so Tom decided to enjoy the fresh spring air. Luckily he didn’t have a dorm to move out of, but he had been contemplating whether or not to go back and visit his parents for a while. He was lucky enough that they were willing to pay for his school, but he had to of course keep up with their requirements, which was easily done. No alcohol, better than average grades at least, no getting into trouble, not hard things to avoid. Well, maybe not the latter seeing as how he had gotten into some trouble, though it was neither with the school or the law.
Currently he was still too new to the negaverse and refused to call himself by his mineral name, still seeing himself as the Destiny City pre-med student that he had come to the city for. So, all of that stuff was on the back of his mind while he enjoyed the day.
Currently he was sitting by himself in a pretty empty park on one of the park benches. He figured since quite a few students were leaving to go back to their homes, the park was emptier than usual, which meant he could count on at least a few moments of peace and quiet. Currently he had a book in his lap, Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie and was quite absorbed in it. However he had brought some take-out Chinese food with him, buying it on the way to the park, and eating it slowly whenever he remembered to look away from his book, poking it absentmindedly with the chopsticks from time to time.
He knew he had to have some food with him, or else he would forget to eat at all and once he was done with his reading, would be almost too hungry to even move to get food. Well, that was an exaggeration, there were people who had felt hungrier than he, but that didn’t mean he was full of energy on an empty stomach!
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Posted: Thu May 12, 2016 7:55 pm
If Tom was hoping for a peaceful afternoon full of alone-time, then he'd come to the wrong park.
Bob had arrived earlier to the public area, schmoozing and making his rounds slowly as the day grew on. He'd first started at the children's playground, cajoling the kiddos into giving him bits of their candy and juice boxes. When the ice cream truck had driven by, he'd scored it big by convincing one of the little girls to share her vanilla cone - at least, until the mother found out.
The runners and the joggers had little to offer him other than waves, so he neglected to give them any attention as each of them passed by.
In the corner, however, he saw someone reading. It wasn't the book that interested him, no, it was the little white box sidled beside him that caught old Bob's eye.
It took several moments to arrive at the bench, where Bob decidedly planted himself barely inches above the man's feet. The student was clearly too engrossed in his literature to pay him any heed, so he decided to make his presence known the only way he could.
"Meeeeow."[color=white]x[/color]SSBrosB
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2016 6:04 am
It was finally getting to the good part. The climax was soon to come, though he knew the detective in this series liked to make a show of pointing out who the murderer was and drawing it out almost longer than necessary. And so far there had been two other murders committed. They should have called it "Deaths on the Nile", he thought to himself as he mentally laughed a bit. Though that probably would spoil too much.
He was suddenly taken out of his engrossing book when he heard a meow. He was a bit startled, almost jumping out of his seat a bit. Luckily the food wasn't on his lap or that would have been a disaster. Putting the book to his side he looked around for the cat that had made the noise when his eyes finally came upon the cat sitting in front of his feet.
It was quite the fluffy cat, with a nice orange coat, but what really made it stand out was the star on its forehead. A guardian cat? He had only seen one before and knew there were others, but still he was surprised to see one here in broad daylight.
The cat looked... smug? Or maybe it was just relaxed. Tom couldn't tell, but was wary as to why the cat was here. He sent it a questioning look. He wasn't sure what to do or what it wanted and if he talked to it too much, then he would probably look like a crazy person to others in the park. "Is there something you want kitty?" Of course he didn't know if he was insulting the cat in any way, but it's not like he knew its name yet.
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2016 7:03 am
His tail swished once, then rose slightly before flopping down on the ground behind him, making the grass whoosh by the sudden impact of fur. The man seemed interested enough in him that he was willing to put his book down - an excellent sign indeed - but had not yet jumped to any far-fetched conclusions involving the precious little white box beside him.
"Mrrrrrrrow."
The second sound he forced from his throat was drawn out, the cat's eyes half-lidded as he stared up at the tall human. Bob counted himself fortunate that he'd found a cat person in possession of food, but he still had to get the real message across. These things couldn't be rushed, not if he was wanting more than a few measly noodles or grains of rice.
His gaze moved slowly from the human's stare, down, down, down until green eyes rested upon the white box. That glorious little paper holder that promised delicious things within. He had to have it. He was going to have it.
"Mrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrow."
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2016 7:50 am
The cat didn't seem to be very interested in him, or maybe it was interested in something about him, he couldn't make it out. But then it was clarified for him quite quickly as the cat's gaze moved to his food. Now, ordinarily he would have figured that the cat would be interested in company or would just go after the food without waiting to be fed but Tom knew better.
This cat was telling him something, and it was "give me that box". He looked at the box himself, keeping an eye on the cat at the same time, just in case the cat decided to try and swipe the box for himself.
Most of the food was still in there, and he could give the cat some scraps if he wanted it. And he wasn't worried about feeding the feline this bad food, he should be fine with human food, or so he hoped. But it's not like he could give it the whole box! Maybe half of it would do, he could stuff himself later with dinner and it was just a holdover right now.
He wasn't sure how different alien cat digestive systems worked compared to their Earthly counterparts.
But how to separate it? He couldn't just let the cat have the first half of it, it would probably eat all of it before he could stop it. Maybe if he ate what he wanted now, he could give the rest to the cat. His gaze moved fully back to the orange fluff ball. "I'll give you half, but you'll have to wait for it."
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2016 7:25 pm
Wait for it?
He could wait. It would be cold by the time Bookworm was finished with his part, but free food was still free food and therefore excellent nonetheless.
He nodded his head, looking fat and sage, before letting out a large yawn, exposing rows of sharp tiny white teeth and a long, pink tongue. The tom cat gave another stretch before he hopped up on the bench, settling himself on the other side of the tasty white box. Having the other half would allow him the opportunity to lick the lining - something he was pretty certain the human wouldn't miss out on.
He stared at him, his gaze quietly encouraging the human to hurry up with his portion of the lunch.
"Meow."
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2016 7:34 pm
Tom sighed as he could tell that this was an okay compromise, however the cat seemed to silently tell him to 'hurry it up'. Well, there wasn't much left that he wanted to eat still, he had somehow managed to eat a quarter of it while reading his book, so it wouldn't be that hard to manage. Still though, he would finish while reading his book and then leave the rest for the cat.
Although he couldn't help but smile at it, even if it was impatient, and grabbed the box but not before taking a chance to scratch the cat on the head a bit. He didn't mind taking a risk to pet a cat, though he was used to moving his hand away fast enough to avoid a good bite. He also used that in this situation, just in case the cat decided it didn't like to be touched by strangers.
He went back to his book, trying to keep to the current pages and eating his food at the same time, eating it slowly enough so that he could at least thoroughly chew it. Absentmindedly he wondered what the cat was called but decided if he did ask then he would probably get some strange looks.
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 9:23 pm
The scratch wasn't half bad, as far as scratches went. Probably a six out of ten if he had to rank it - not the best scratches and scritches he'd ever received but also not the worst. Memories of toddlers with sticky fingers pulling on his fur resurfaced in his memories and he shuddered at the thought. No, Bookworm definitely did not have the worst scratches.
He was quick to return to his book, which would have been overall okay with Bob, except a light breeze wafted the scent of Chinese into his small nose and his stomach emitted a long, hungry growl.
Stepping over, Bob promptly settled himself in the young man's lap, his head nudging away the hand that held the book.
It was not reading time. It was petting time.
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Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 7:04 am
Well, it looked like Mr. Kitty, his new nickname Tom gave him because of the tie, had decided that he wanted to be the center of attention. Or it could be a ploy to get to the food, but the cat seemed quite insistent on being pet now that he had had it once, promptly nudging the hand holding the book away and plopping himself right onto Tom’s lap.
His other hand holding the container of food, Tom didn’t really know how to pet Mr. Kitty unless he removed one of the things from his hand. Either he could stop his reading and pet the cat and trying to eat at the same time or he could still try to read at the same time and pet the feline but it would take longer to eat his food which he bet the cat had not forgotten.
Tom sighed as he put the book down and placed the food on the other side away from the cat to try and eat it at the same time he pet the cat, hopefully being able to do both at the same time. With his other hand he started to pet Mr. Kitty, scratching behind the ears first before doing a bit of back scratching, moving up and down slowly. The cat would tell him if this was an acceptable way to pet him or not and hopefully he wouldn’t be trying to sneak some food at the same time. “I wonder what they call you Mr. Kitty.” Probably not Mr. Kitty but what did Tom know, he had a tarantula names Sir Fuzzybutt III at home after all.
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 5:50 am
Both Mr. Kitty and Sir Fuzzybutt the Third were more colorful than the cat's actual name but Bob did not mind the temporary nickname given to him for the time being. Petting across his face pushed back the fur on his forehead, revealing the black star even better. The back rub was nice, fingers weaving through orange waves of fur and he was forced to rise as his hips did a small appreciative wiggle as the hand moved down. Ah, yeah, this was the good stuff.
Those same fingers attempted to travel back upwards and he promptly sat back down, shaking his head in a very distinct no motion. Hands moved down, never up, but Bookworm could be forgiven for his grievous error because he was now provider of both food items and attention. His tail moved around to gently thwap against the guy's leg as front paws kneaded the fabric of his slacks.
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 6:38 pm
The cat was telling Tom the best way to pet him. Oh brother, this was one of those demanding kitties wasn’t it? Of course he should have known considering the looks he had been given earlier pertaining to the food.
He had to put his book entirely down now, though luckily with a bookmark in it to keep his place. The star on the cat’s forehead was revealed a bit more with the petting and made him wonder why a guardian cat was out here in the open. Either people managed to miss the star or they somehow thought that cats with stars on their foreheads were a common occurrence. Weird how he had been here for 2 years already and it was only after he had been recruited that he saw any of this… stuff up close.
The cat had admonished him a bit when he started to move his hand back up and Tom resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. Really, cats were some of the most demanding creatures.
He sighed a bit as his hand moved back down, close to where the cat’s tail met his back and scratched there for a bit. This cat was here to stay for right now and looking around, he couldn’t see anyone so he figured it might be safe to talk now. “Well Mr. Guardian Kitty, what are you doing here?” He said this while still scratching and petting the cat.
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 1:25 pm
At the mention of Guardian, the feline's body stilled while his ears perked up. His head turned to stare up at Bookworm, peering at him curiously.
Finally, "You knew who I was this whole time, kid? Could've let me known and I would have skipped all the acting and whatnot, saved me the trouble."
Not that it stopped him from enjoying the backrub - he was still a cat, after all. He let the ministrations continue for a few moments more before finally raising himself up and excusing himself out of the student's lap, making his way towards the other side of the bench - right to where the white box was located.
"The name's Bob, too, by the by." One paw flipped his tie over his shoulder as he moved around the box, positioning himself directly behind it before glancing up at Bookworm again. "So I take it you're a senshi, then? What're we working with here, senshi of books? Nerd-dom? Literature?"
A paw peeled back the edge of the box and he peered within it.
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 6:37 pm
Tom wasn’t going to be distracted that easily. And while he was a little sad that Bob no longer seemed to want to be pet, he knew to keep his eye on the food. His own cats had tried tricking him before, and that was without talking. This cat would have to try better than that.
He lifted the box up and away from the cat, getting his chopsticks and taking a bite of some of the food. Bob would have to wait after all. After eating a bit he decided to answer the cat. “Actually, negaverse lieutenant and I’m pretty sure that just reading a book doesn’t make you into a nerd.”He replied, though he knew the cat would still likely call him bookworm and other various synonyms for the insult. He took it in stride though, at least he found some way to entertain himself that wasn’t staring at a screen the whole day.
“Tom. Arsenopyrite in my nega form.” He had looked around to make sure no one could overhear him. Senshi couldn’t sense when someone was just talking about the negaverse, right? “What type of guardian cat are you anyway?” If he wasn’t corrupted, then he would probably have to somehow keep the cat from remembering him. Well, Bob at least wouldn’t know where he lived anyway, just that they had met in a park.
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 7:25 pm
"A Lieutenant, huh."
His nose wrinkled, causing his whiskers to bounce as he glared at the removal of the food parcel. "We'll just stick with Tom right now. Thomas. Tommy. TomTom."
He watched the young man continue to feast on his food, which looked suspiciously like it was quickly growing cold in its exposure to the outside elements. Nonetheless, food was food.
His tail whacked against the back of the bench, bushels of fur rubbing against the wooden surface. One paw moved up to his mouth, allowing him to lick the greasy remnants he'd managed to smear off while touching the box's flap. "What type? I'm a cat. Meow meow, that sort of jazz."
He paused in his licking to stare up. "As far as I know, we're the only Guardians around. Unless you've taken to making youma your guardians - wouldn't trust those guys, though. They're nothing but mindless troublemakers."
Another tail whap and he smiled. "I at least have a mind, when I cause trouble."
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 12:11 pm
He glared back at Bob for a bit while he was still eating the food. Boy this cat is impatient. Wonder what he would do if I ate all of it? Of course he wouldn’t, but it was nice to think about it for the minute or so he was annoyed with the cat. Instead he sighed and looked at the container, noticing that he was pretty much done with his half. Might as well give it to the cat now though he wanted to tease him a bit more.
“I’ll stick with anything but Thomas. If you call me that again you get no food. And so you’re a regular cat as opposed to a guardian cat? I didn’t know regular cats had stars on their foreheads and could talk.” Of course he knew that Bob was a guardian cat, he was the one who had pointed it out earlier, but he wanted to bother the feline for a bit, and almost chuckled at how impatient Bob was getting, if his tail was anything to go by. “Only encounter I’ve had with a youma so far is the one that tried to kill me before I was recruited.”
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