Scratching post

Posted on Tue Dec 8th, 2020 @ 3:43am by Cadet Senior Grade Kedar Rackthorn & Lieutenant M'Tuuri Sh'iss [S'hib]

Mission: Season 4: Episode 3: Guided by Starlight
Location: Elysium hallways
Timeline: current
1155 words - 2.3 OF Standard Post Measure

There you are, M'Tuuri thought as she rounded a corner silently, her padded footpaws cushioned on the carpeted deck to near silence.

Getting your scent all over my ship, she snarled, her wordless lips curling back briefly as she quickened her pace, tail twitching behind her as she approached Cadet Rackthorn.

"Behind you..." She whispered quickly into the back of his ear before leaping backwards, a wide toothy grin over her face as she looked him over.

Kedar looked around and then saw her, his nose twitching at the almost familial scent. There was another Caitain on board?

"Ah, another Caitian on board, I feel less exotic now. I shall pout," he said with a chuckle. "Cadet Rackthorn, and you are...?"

"Lieutenant M'Tuuri," She growled, stepping closer. "CDID infiltration spurrcialist, though I hasssten to bet that even sssomeone from Engineering could track you..." Her voice was sharp, boarding on a hiss as she quickly snapped a paw up and plucked a long hair out from his mane.

"Well I wasn't exactly hiding, I was literally whistling!" he remarked as he walked. He noticed her purring voice and realised he may sound unusual to her, though he did have a habit to slip into his more Caitian tongue, he'd been so obsessed with other cultures, he'd lost a lot of the hissing of his feline voice. Though, he'd been told it comes back when he's drunk or stressed... "Ow, what was that for?" he shouted as she plucked hair from him.

“You’re getting your sssscent all over my ssship...” She explained as though it was obvious, twirling the long fibrous strand of hair around a claw, snapping it with a quick tug. “Ssstop.” She said matter of factly, her eyes flashing wide while her tail lashed out wildly behind her.

He did so, stopping and turning to look at her. "I do have places to be you know, Lieutenant. I've got to report for my physical, with the Doctor." he said. "Do you stalk all the new cadets, or just me?" he laughed.

Her paw was her only response, reaching out in the blink of an eye before retreating back to the safety. “That, was for flirting with me.” She smiled, waving a whisker in front of her face, daring him to react.

Kedar, baffled by what was happening just stood confused. "Wha...how..huh?" he exclaimed. "I was most definitely not flirting with you..." he said with a scowl. "Stop helping yourself to parts of me!"

A loud hiss left her lips as he raised his voice at her, teetering her on the edge of violence before she forced a cough and composed herself. “Yes well...” She continued, flicking her ears briefly back as she flicked his whisker to one side, watching it slowly flutter to the floor. “It wasss nice meeting you Cadet, you better get yourself to that purrsical.” She smiled, an unnervingly genuine smile at that despite her eyes saying otherwise.

Rackthorn watched as M'Tuuri smiled giving a bit of a shudder at the encounter. "Yeah....I'll go do that.." he said, still a bit confused as to what just happened. Perhaps this crew would need more Counselling...lucky he was here!

"In the meantime, maybe don't go tearing people's whiskers off, hm?" he suggested with a wink.

The smile faded on her face, melting into a neutral scowl as her eyes went wide, her narrow slits encompassing all but the fainted slither of colour. "Would you prrrefer I tear sssomething else off?"

He grimaced at those words, knowing exactly the appendage she was inferring. "I uh, no, no, I'm quite happy keeping all my body parts where they are. So, how does a girl like you get into the area of expertise you have, seems kinda specialist, I don't imagine you got promoted their for your social skills.."

"Let's just sssay, not all of us are afrrraid to get their claws dirrrty." She purred, flashing a paw up beside her face, her claws on full display. "So no," M'Tuuri continued as she walked past him, gently slapping him on his upper arm with the back of her paw as she did so.

"I don't work well with othersss..."

He rolled his eyes. He could tell that she didn't work with others very well, she had the social skills of a serial killer. Her behaviour, her words, it came off part seduction, part threat and Kedar didn't quite know what to make of it or her. One thing was for sure, he didn't feel comfortable or particularly safe.

"So, you don't work well with others but chose a job on a starship, with a large complement of crew?"

"I didn't choose anything," She snapped back, stopping and inclining her head for him to walk. "Ssstarfleet just doesn't know what to do with my purrticular set of ssskills, which is why I'm here..." A heavy sigh left her tiny nostrils, like a housecat sitting inside, watching birds it will never be able to chase.

He nodded. "Well, what would you LIKE to do with these skills? What is your goal, your ambition, your dream?" he asked, not quite sure why he was still talking to the crazy woman.

"It might upset your stomach if I told you... and we wouldn't want all that replicated protein to go to waste now, would we?" Her tone was cold, the only hint of humour directed at mocking him.

He grimaced at the thought. "I don't want to know..." he said, shuddering. "So, I suppose you came to me looking for a mate right? The smell of a young male enticing you was it?" he teased, firing some sass back at her.

M'Tuuri practically stumbled as he spoke, her tail erupting into a fit of twitches as she reached out to the LCARS display that ran along the wall to her right.

And as her claws sunk into the plexiglass and scratched slowly down its surface, she let out a long droning yowl that rumbled from her throat.

Kedar jumped back in horror at the sight. "Uh, M'Tuuri, you doing alright over there? I don't think the display likes being scratched...."

He stepped back some more, afraid he had poured salt into a wound.

“It’ll be your face if you don't leave!” She snapped, spinning around to face him, fangs bared in a pained hiss.

Turning around and walking a little faster, the young Cadet was quite happy to get out of dodge and headed hastily towards Sickbay.

"Yowzer..."

M’Tuuri watched him leave, her tail flicking angrily against the bulkhead with a soft thud. “How dare they assign another to this ship,” She sulked, her posture melting away into something more timid.

“I worked so hard to get it to smell how i like.” She muttered before storming off in the other direction, wondering if she should find a Jeffries tube to crawl inside.