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Seren had found a nice sized table that was out of the way, where she could meet with her project partner. Zachariah, she thought his name was? She was embarrassed to realize she wasn't totally certain but she never WAS all that good with names, when it came to people she'd almost had no contact with. They'd literally arranged to meet today, and exchanged contact information, after being assigned to each other, and that was the sole contact they'd had. Classes weren't exactly small, after all, and she tended to keep to herself unless approached.

She glanced around, and realized that part of the reason this spot had remained empty was because it was in a slightly awkward place. Behind the stairs, and not obviously visible. She considered this for a moment, then sent him a text (Oh it WAS Zachariah), showing him a photo of her location, so he didn't have to hunt around to find her. After that, she settled in, and unpacked her book and other supplies, before going over the damn handout that had the project information on it once again. She leaned back in the chair, glad it was one of the cushioned ones, instead of the stupidly hard all plastic all the time ones that she normally got stuck in, and got lost in thought as she considered.

They had to use one of the listed data set suggestions, and gather at least 50 different responses. They were allowed to ask people to answer a paper survey, or directly question them. It was SUGGESTED they use their fellow students for the data, as it might be easier to survey them, as they gathered in one place.

But it wasn't required. They could... go to a mall and hand out a survey. Or something. Or do it here. It was easier, and probably less humiliating. But whatever Zachariah preferred, she supposed, would be best, because she really didn't feel that determined to argue about any of it.

Faust ******** loved group projects.

Group projects were The s**t. Not only were there multiple people around to harass for pets, but there were often books to lay on, papers to stand in front of, and laptops to lay on with extreme prejudice. And sometimes people kept cool s**t in their backpacks, like snacks and lunches and those weird little jingly things they took with them everywhere they went. Keys? Hell if Faust knew. He got around fine without them.

But Faust didn't care for getting squished by random statistics books. He fidgeted around in the dark space, pushing claws against just about anything he could find (bonus points if he scored Zachariah's back), and continually wriggled upside-down and rightside-up.He was pretty sure, when he heard Zach speaking again, that he'd furred the s**t out of the inside of Zach's backpack. Then he'd probably sit down, throw his backpack to the side, and leave Faust to work on getting his a** out of the bag. It wasn't too hard, he figured — he did the same s**t with Quenton whenever he got to go to the grad office. And the grad office was pretty cool. Maybe wherever the hell this is would be just as rad.

After all, he wore his uncomfortable sonofabitch therapy cat getup today. Lucy b*****d wasn't gonna get thrown out for bringing random cats into the wherever-this-is.

Thunk went the backpack and Faust grunted with the landing. Wisp-wisp-wisp sounded his paws against the zippered enclosure. And once he found that damned zipper zippy thing, he caught it with a nail and started dragging it back across the top. Then, with just enough space, he shoved his nose at the sliver of daylight. A push and a grunt and a shove and a large cat head finally emerged, blinkingly, into the library space.

Well how 'bout that. Some new kid with hella hair like a corrupted senshi. Ain't no signature, though, or I'da kicked her a**. "Mrr," Faust grunted gruffly at the pair.

Seren looked like she was about to jump out of her seat when the backpack started grunting. Admittedly, if he did not know better, a grunting backpack would likely make him take a wide berth and leave as quickly as possible.

He did not really wish to get involved.

"I ******** wish," replied Zachariah, making his position on interacting with people and surveys clear as he crossed his arms over his chest. "He seemed pretty clear on wanting us to actually go out and be social. Something about an oral requirement. I am quite fine with trying anyway, though."

Because honestly, the less he had to deal with anything like people, the better. And honestly, the less he had to deal with his supposedly lovely cat, the better. When Seren called Faust lovely, he could not help his snort under his breath. Faust? Lovely? The two words did not belong in the same sentence, yet alone in the same paragraph. He was fairly sure Faust was partially there to fish for pets, though, so when she said that she would not bother him while he was working, he smirked.

Zachariah could not help himself.

"And, thank you for understanding that he should not be bothered while he is working. So many forget that."

She seemed wistful, but Zachariah was mostly concerned about spiting the cat.

"Perhaps less direct questions would be preferable," offered Zachariah, as he side-eyed Faust.

Seren couldn't help a soft chuckle at the words the kitty said, her eyes focused on him for a moment, the wistfulness back. She then refocused on Zach, and tilted her head, before exhaling in frustration. "Right. Damned oral component. What does the stat teacher think he is, a social interactions specialist or something?" She grumbled a little under her breath in a similar vein for a moment, then sighed and gave up. "We can ask, worst case is he says no. But... if he does, how do you wanna handle it?"

She brushed her hair off her face, and added "We could go to the caf at lunch, and just ask people as they're leaving... That way they've eaten and won't feel we're preventing them from assuaging their hunger. I mean, there's always a good sized crowd, and we could probably get MOST of the 50 answers we needed in one or two days." She sighed a little deeply, and was about to continue by picking up the sheet with the questions, and point to the ones she thought were viable.

About to but suddenly there was a cat butt, along with the rest of the cat, on her paper. She started and paused, then looked between Zach, and the cat with an uncertain expression. She'd never had a cat, she'd never before had to deal with this side of cat behaviour. She was aware it existed but... She'd never personally seen it.

"Um." A pause, then she said "Pardon me, but I am going to move your cat. I hope you don't mind..." She reached over, carefully, and attempted to get a gentle grip on Faust, murmuring "You're a handsome lad, and I wish I didn't need to move you but I need that paper... If I fail a class, my scholarship is in jeopardy, and thus my ability to support myself..." just soft enough for the cat to hear, she hoped. She really hoped that Zach couldn't hear.

It wasn't like the cat understood, after all.

She thought she could move him.

She thought she could sway him with some nonsense about scholar ships like Faust was into that nautical s**t. The hell did he look like, a sailor? He wasn't into ships. And there wasn't gonna be anything left for her to support herself on if the Negaverse was left unchecked like this a*****e Hydork wanted. Hands found his sides and she tried to lift, but Faust chuffed and increased his cat gravity. Solid-to-liquid conversion was nearly 100% and any attempt to actually seize his furry body was met with Faust melting out of her grasp. This was his paper now. He would have it. And he required a tithe of pets if Sunset here wanted him to move.

But humans didn't understand cat language, so he shifted on his side enough to headbutt her right in the hand. Hell, he'd pet himself with her hand if that'd get the message across. Some humans were damn stupid and needed all the help they could get. Usually he peed in the shoes of those ones but that would get his a** thrown straight out of the library.

'Throw him, even. He's got nine lives.'

Faust's head whipped the hell around, ears flattened, and he grunted in annoyance at his smart-mouthed senshi recruit. "Mrr." I'm tryna get pets here, fool. The hell else am I gonna pass the time while you two nerds drone on? This statistics s**t don't be interesting at all. Besides, his teammate here smelled a little nervous. And she acted it, too. She could use the pets. Blondie was always droning on about the health benefits of cat petting anyhow.

Goddamn ******** waste of time, this s**t. Should be out knockin' Negas on their asses.

... Really?

Zachariah quirked a brow at Seren's sudden offense at his comment. There were honestly several phrases that ran through his head at her response, and none of them were particularly friendly. Some of them were far too blunt for his personal tastes, and others ran the risk of somehow offending her sensibilities so badly she left, which honestly would have just made him fail the assignment. He barely gave a s**t, but unfortunately, he did need to pass this forsaken course for his major.

Something about his demeanor shifted, and Zachariah took a whuff of air.

After a moment, deadpanning, he flatly stated, "Do not talk to me about abuse."

And that was the end of it.

Unwilling to let her get another word in about it, he glanced at Faust through narrowed eyes and added, "Cat is just trying to get you to pet him. It evidently succeeded. Manipulative creatures, the lot." Zachariah did not exactly know much about cats, but if Faust was any indication of at least somewhat typical cat behaviours, manipulation seemed to be the name of the game. He did not approve of it, which was partially why he was making Faust suffer through the boring realities of statistics work.

He swatted his hand in the air. "He might get up if you appease him, though."

The demeanor shift was not lost, and her eyes dropped, indeed her whole head dropped, her own demeanor going nervous, maybe even a hint of scared. She had angered her work partner, and now... No, she wasn't going to think about that, she wasn't going to think about the ways she could be punished for angering him! She shivered a little more, though, a physical response to her internal fear.The hand the was giving scritches followed Faust as he shifted.

The free hand, however, did not pick up the paper at first. Instead, it went to her back in a gesture that was unconscious, scared, and like she was reminding herself of something without realizing she was doing it. The fingers brushed her back, and then, as they brushed a spot, she winced, visibly winced, and her hand jerked away from her back as if she had burned herself. "Not this damn cycle, again..." She whispered, barely audible.

A small tear might, just might, have fallen on the nearest sheet of paper, but she did not acknowledge it enough to even brush it away.

She reached for the paper, her hand trembling as she did so, and looked at it. "Well, he IS a cat, so that makes sense. I've come to believe they all know their ancestors were worshiped as gods, and are determined to get their own measure of worship... And if we don't give it freely, they will take it, whether it's ear scritches or our dinner." She was trying to sound calm, and maybe airy. She sounded wobbly instead. She never had done well when she upset people, especially men.

"S... so I was thinking perhaps the questions about 'age a person started college' and 'major chosen' might be the least invasive options on here, and the easiest to find a corollary between, for the sake of our paper." She offered the suggestion quietly, as her fingers began long strokes down the kitty's back, nails pressing in just enough to press against the skin, but not hard enough to scratch.

Faust spared a look at the girl, who shriveled right the ******** up like an old fig. He couldn't tell what the hell was wrong with her. She was petting a cat, wasn't she? She was petting a damn soft cat with a damn fine coat and a damn good demeanor, too. In the middle of a library. How many students would kill for that opportunity? s**t, if any of them knew he was there, they'd all be lining their asses up to try for a few pets at a time. And Faust was lucky that Zachariah hadn't wizened up to that and gone off charging people five bucks to touch 'his' cat. Maybe he'd ditch this a*****e afterward.

Or maybe he could use Zachariah to his self-indulgent benefit.

But now the b***h was leaking, like full-on dripping on her paper. Faust retracted his foot a half inch so there wasn't chance of his toe puffs getting soaked. The last thing he needed was a chance to lick the salt out of his goddamn beans. He huffed, inconvenienced.

And she was still way the hell outta sorts. Like the same level of ******** up that Quenton was after his shitty boyfriend bit the big one. Damn humans always need a cat taking care of 'em. Do I look like your goddamn mom? Hell no. He headbutted her hand nonetheless, and when that didn't draw much attention, he got up and laid on the damned thing. Straddling her forearm, all he had to do was lay down and let twenty pounds of cat do its paperweight duty.

Faust actually liked the discomfort of it. Plus, he could shove his face into her palm as much as she wanted and she couldn't do a damn thing about it. Captive pets were the best pets. He licked his chops imperiously at Zachariah, as if to say they were having a competition and the guardian was winning. What that competition was, what the constraints were, and what they won were each as opaque as the last. But Faust didn't care — he felt like the king in the room. That's all that mattered.