Posted May 11, 2021, 7:14 p.m. by Warrant Officer Hsull (Chief Tactical Officer) (David Stiles)
Hsull was seated comfortably on the small couch in his quarters, his feet were propped up on a small ottoman and a book was laying open in his lap. Idly he reached out and felt the surface of the couch, this was a new one and he had ordered it with a rough nappy texture to the covering and as scratch resistant as possible. As he lay there he looked up at the top of the shelves built into the wall and two amber eyes stared back at him from a russet colored furry head with dark spots running from behind the large ears down the length of a long sinewy body and continuing down the two and a half feet of twitching tail. “You’re going to jump from there to here aren’t you ?” Hsull asked the Savannah. The cat gathered it’s hind legs beneath it and sailed in a graceful leap to land beside him on the sofa where it promptly curled up with it’s head resting on his thigh and a deep purring began as he rubbed and scratched behind the ears and on the head.
Hsull had been fascinated with the Terran animals ever since he had attended the Academy on Earth many years ago. He had owned several and they all unequivocally had absolutely hated him for some reason. They would either slink away when he entered the room or attack in a hissing, scratching, biting ball of pent up vindictiveness. Fortunately being covered with a thick coat of fur himself there was little they could do to hurt him. These cats he had given to friends or put up for adoption as soon as he could. The Savannah was the first cat he had found that not only tolerated his presence but actually seemed to like him, he had attributed this to the fact that the Savannah, being a cross between an African Cerval and a domestic cat, still retained enough feral instincts that it regarded him as a member of it’s family, all though who was the alpha still remained in doubt. The Savannah stretched out and easily filled the rest of the sofa with it’s three foot long body and that tail which never was still unless the cat was sound asleep. Hsull continued to unconsciously rub the cat as he read and only stopped when he reached over to grab his official USS DRESDEN coffee mug filled with Forgrave’s brew. There was absolutely nothing in his quarters that the cat couldn’t leap to the top of and in fact he had modified his quarters to include various perches for the extremely agile and active cat. The Savannah, who he had named, somewhat derisively {Fuzzbutt} was a natural hunter and he and the cat would often take to the holodeck for hunting forays.
The thing that was an enigma to Hsull was why the feline species on Terra hadn’t evolved as his own had, this was the subject of the book he was currently reading, which had been authored by a Caitian biologist who had similar questions. Hsull pondered this as he continued to scratch and read, it was true to a certain degree that cats were never really owned they merely tolerated staying with certain people, or as someone had once said, “Dogs have owners, cats have staff.” Hsull glanced down at the very relaxed cat, “I would introduce you to Luna and Ing but you’d probably regard them as snacks,” At the word snacks, Fuzzbutt lifted his head and looked inquiringly at the replicator, “You my friend are too smart for your own good, so why haven’t your kind evolved more ?” Hsull slipped out from under the cat’s head and went to the replicator, “Tuna, slightly warmed, in water not oil.” Fuzzbutt sat up and licked his chops, he knew how to manipulate this large cousin.
OOC: All are invited to drop in and discuss the vagaries of catdom.
Hsull - TO
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