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Click…Click…Click
In a dead-silent room on the base of Rüstkammer, the sound of a clock turning was all that could be heard. Despite there being two breathing bodies in the room, the silent stand-off they were having left the clock's ticking as the only sound to come from the room.
On one side of the stand-off sat a black-furred, white-socked cat who, by all means, sat innocently in the room, giving the occasional meow to the other breathing body across from him. While the meow of the creature would have helped ease any tension in a room, it did anything but that in this situation. For the Alba boy with glasses, who sat directly on the floor across from TP, only gained a look of focus at each meow.
"Don't you give me a meow thinking it'll help you here, TP," Dustin said in his head. "After how much time it took me to finally get on the floor with you without you running away, I finally have my chance."
As he said this to himself, Dustin then motioned his right hand flat, then toward the head of TP. He moved delicately, as if performing some surgery, closer and closer; his hand moved toward the target, and just as he was finally in reach of doing it, the cat quickly turned its head away and walked a little distance away from Dustin.
While most people would at most only sigh at a cat avoiding their attempt to pet them, a level of annoyance and frustration rose in Dustin instead. Since he was seemingly still the only one on the whole base of Rüstkammer who had not been successfully able to pat TP.
Despite actually knowing TP for quite some time since first working with Lena back in the Republic of San Magnolia, Dustin had never been able to land even the most basic pat on the black-furred critter. For some reason, TP would absolutely avoid Dustin's attempts to pet him. It had gotten so bad that, at one point, those who saw just how much TP would avoid Dustin's hand began to assume that Dustin was some secret cat abuser and that TP knew best to avoid him.
Of course, Dustin did his best to quell the outlandish rumours, even getting Lena to vouch for him, though she was only just as confused when she learned of TP's avoidance of Dustin. But by the time the first Large-Scale Offensive had finally come, and his volunteering for the Strike Package, he had long since given up on being able to pat TP. Though this would only last for so long, one day, while lounging around with others from the Strike Package, Dustin noticed TP snuggled up in Anju's arms. Seeing this, the idea of now being able to pet TP now that he was seemingly all over. He assumed that since he looked so comfortable in her arms, there would be no way he would move. But he was quickly proven wrong with TP doing the wildest movements Dustin had seen yet from him, to avoid a simple head pat from Dustin. Launching himself up in the air and out of the Snow Witch's arms.
The sight of this drew a reaction from almost everyone in the lounge, while some remarked on either the height TP reached or the surprise of seeing him move so quickly to avoid Dustin. Anju let out an exaggerated sigh and said, "I just wish my boys could get along."
Despite Anju simply trying to give Dustin a little tease with this statement, it lit a fire of determination within him to get a successful pat on TP. This brought him to the situation he found himself in now; despite his previous attempt having failed, he would not give up, certainly not without using his ace.
Across the room, TP once again sat, now with a look of curiosity at Dustin, who now reached behind him and pulled out something that immediately got the cat's attention. In Dustin's left hand was a squeeze cat treat, and it was the type of TP loved as well.
"Hmph, I guess Shiden's advice on just bribing the little bastard was right," Dustin said as he immediately noticed just how quickly the treat got TP's attention. Soon, the cat made his way toward him, and not with an itch of hesitation. Dustin then stretched forward the treat toward TP, now being able to feel him sniffing it. He then moved his right hand once again toward the head of TP, getting closer than before. He thought he would finally be able to pat the black-furred cat, but stopped once he heard a meow.
He then looked at his left hand and saw TP turning his head toward the unopened treat. He took this as a sign that the cat wanted to taste the treat's contents, not just sniff its plastic.
"Oh, right, I should actually open it then for ya," Dustin said, but not wanting to lose the progress his hand had made toward the head of TP, he decided just to rip open the treat with his mouth. Plastic between his teeth, he tore it open and immediately felt some of its pasty contents touch his taste buds. Less than a second later, he dropped the treat to the ground; its taste made him gag over and over. Only a minor bit of it touched his tongue, and yet it felt to him like some horrid taste; he couldn't understand why cats would like those things so much. Not wanting it to stay on his tongue, he rushed up and sought out the nearest sprinkle of water he could get to rid his mouth of the foul taste.
Meanwhile, back in the room, TP ripped open more of the treat and soon realized that by pressing the back of the treat with his white socks, more of the tasty paste would come out, leaving the whole treat for himself.
After finally having rid his mouth of the cat treat's taste, Dustin walked the halls, feeling a bit defeated after realizing he may have lost his best chance to pet TP finally. The feeling only got worse once he saw a text from Anju saying, "I do really appreciate you actually trying to get better, along with TP Dustin…. BUT THERES NO NEED TO EAT CAT TREATS TO DO SO!"
It seemed as though someone had witnessed Dustin ripping open the treat and felt it best to relay the incident involving Anju's two boys straight back to her.