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Seren settled onto a seat near enough to the cat that she could eat at her table, and reach up to give him pets on occasion. She sighed softly, and then murmured something softly, under her breath, about gratitude for the food and for being here, free of the past, before she began to eat. As she did, she pulled her phone back out, and sent off the text she had been going to earlier, when the cat had nearly gotten into the oven.



She added her address, and hit send, then settled back to eating, focusing on her salad first, her now free left hand sliding up to give Faust rubs between his ears, fingernails gently scritching in under the fur. "Well, I hope the food is enjoyable, Faust, even if probably not what you're used to." She heard the Mrrf, and had no idea, not being able to speak Cat and all, what it meant, or that he was judging her. "Chicken is probably the meat I eat the most... Generally healthy and I can buy more of it in bulk for the same price as any of the other meats. Not that you care, of course." She shook her head at herself again, and finished her meal in fairly short order.

Faust heard the doorbell and decided it could eat its own a**. He had food, he had pets, and he wasn't in the mood to play scared the way most cats did when some disembodied sound rang out in the house. Usually that sound meant strangers. In this case, that sound meant Zachariah.

Unless Seren was prone to obnoxious-a** solicitors looking to sell a college student some s**t that was way the hell out of her price range. Distinct possibility. Faust still ignored it.

He had a lot of chicken to keep chewing — gnawing the corner, it came off in ripped strips where he chewed against the grain. The seasoning almost looked like fleas, he decided. Dead fleas that were hella flat and just stuck to the chicken skin. He ate those too, and they were like little punches of flavor in his mouth. Like someone held a boxing match between his jaws, and he kinda liked it for that. But he didn't dwell too much on it; he was a cat, and he couldn't give her the satisfaction of knowing she cooked a good meal. He had standards to keep.

He did, however, finally sit up. His tongue lapped dutifully at his face, cleaning his muzzle, then his paw, then his paw cleaned his face and ears. Seren would be back with Zachariah in a hot minute, and he could either cause some trouble, or chill out and play catly. Catly it was, though, because he felt too damn lazy after a hot meal to cause trouble. He'd fill that grumpy stick-in-the-mud in on the fact that Seren wasn't a senshi later.

b***h better be grateful, though. Knowing who of your friends are and aren't senshi is a damn privilege. Though, he doubted that a*****e had friends. Acquaintances, then. No, just classmates.

With a huff, he turned and dismounted the counter. Fluffy paws thumped loudly on the linoleum. He stretched — spine stooped and back legs extended, then arched with front legs extended — and decided he'd follow Seren.

What was taking Seren so long? He could not imagine that her apartment was terribly large. With the spacing between the doors, he could definitely tell it was not...

Took long enough for her to arrive. Zachariah just wanted to grab the guardian cat and get the hell out of there. Maybe unceremoniously dump him on the ground once the door was closed. Faust could figure out how to get his own a** back to campus. It was not that hard for a guardian cat to navigate their way around the city.

(He likely would take Faust back to campus himself, mostly because he did not feel like Faust popping in through his door late at night somehow just to piss on his notebook. Zachariah preferred the smell of stale nothingness over the smell of bitter cat piss.)

"This is why I live in the dorms," replied Zachariah, flatly, not necessarily taking the invitation to come inside. He stood at the door for a moment, maybe two, before figuring coming in the door was the expected behaviour, and so he stepped in. He remained just inside the door frame, though, not making any particular move to make himself comfortable, at home, or even particularly relaxed. "I appreciate that you fed him. Now I will not have to."

Spoiled guardian cats getting their fancy a** chicken cooked for them. If Faust asked Zachariah for any food, the closest he was going to get to seasoned chicken was whatever passed as seasoned chicken in the cafeteria that afternoon.

He added, glancing around Seren to look at the cat that was coming up behind her, narrowing his eyes to make sure that Faust knew he was being spoken to, "He is too smart for his own good."

Zachariah's gaze shifted back to Seren as he handed off the backpack full of books. "Feel free to collect your books out of here. I do not need any tea, thank you."

The only thing he ever drank was water. Perhaps some black coffee, if he felt like he exceptionally hated himself that day.

Seren tried not to sigh, thinking her attempts at making up for the... discomfort... at the library were failing miserably. At least he had brought her books, though he sounded like he was resentful, or at least that's what she got from his words... His tone gave her NO indication one way or the other. That flat tone he used was just not exactly easy to read, or full of emotions. It made her feel somewhat uncomfortable, honestly, because she felt she was just an irritation and a burden to him, and well... Even if they only dealt with each other through the end of the semester, it would be nice to have some kind of a friend in class.

She tried to keep her expression even, but despite her efforts, her face fell, a little, showing her disappointment just a little bit.

"Ah... yeah, yeah of course." She moved over to him and reached in, pulling out the books, and she was about to go to her table to set them down, when CAT.

She froze, startled, by the plaintive sound, though she did hear the refusal of the tea. She considered a little, trying to figure out what to do. Some cats she'd cuddled before had draped themselves around her neck, but none had stood there, behind her head before. "Ummmmmmmm."

She licked her lips, trying to think about how to handle this. Finally, she slowly said "I can offer you a glass of water, then, if you like? Just... so you have something to drink before you spend another half an hour-ish on the bus? It's cold, I keep a pitcher in the fridge." She was trying to be polite, while she figured out how to handle the cat situation. She did not really know what to do, when it was very clear Faust Did Not Want To Go yet.

"And you're welcome for feeding him. It's fine. I just shared my dinner with him, added some more salad then I would have had otherwise." She turned with care to walk over to her table and set the books down, not wanting to feel cat claws digging in more then they already would be. She was on the overly lean side, even after four years of being away from the influence of her family, and it meant there was little between bone and any needle sharp points of the cat's claws.

When Hydork finally caved and said yes to water, Faust licked his chops approvingly. He sat back on his throne, looking smug, eyes squinted shut, chest puffed out. That's right, he wore the pants in the conversation here. He decided who stayed and who went, and Faust was gonna stick around for as long as he damn well pleased, getting into all kinds of s**t.

Especially her kitchen. Seemed like she spent the most time there, slapping chicken meat into pans and dumping funky-smelling dust on it.Maybe he'd find more chicken if he could pry open her fridge.

Or he could jump in while she was getting the water… Faust felt like a genius.

Either way, he got what he wanted. Now he could nap and lick the chicken grease out of the pan later. He settled back down on Seren's shoulder as his feet folded under his girth. Damn straight today was a good day.