Cats and Dogs – Ears
Bridge and Boom are playing with fire. Not literally, but figuratively. They're tampering with some dangerous potentials in their experiment. It all started when they were discussing ears, and got on the subject of Kat's and the Commander's. Bridge claimed that Kat's are much cooler looking. Bridge protested that the Commander's look like Batman's.
Now, they're watching how they move. Every few minutes, Boom will make a noise, making Kat's ears twitch in registering it. Then, Bridge will make a noise, making Cruger's change in angle, but still stand up straight like ramrods. Bridge's argument is that Kat's just seem more...mobile. Bridge says that Cruger's ears can clearly...move, just...don't.
Kat and Cruger work beside each other silently, but not discontented. If there's one annoying thing, it's the fact that Boom and Bridge both seem to have frogs in their throats. Every once in a while, one or the other will make some irritating cough or throat clearing. A moment ago, Bridge had a single hiccup. It's getting weird.
"Achoo!" Boom fakes a sneeze.
Kat's ears twitch in the direction of it.
Another couple minutes and Bridge clicks his tongue against the top of his mouth.
Cruger's right ear turns to face it before turning back.
When Boom coughs a few minutes later Kat slams down her clipboard, causing everyone to start. "What's going on, boys?"
"What do you mean, Kat?" Boom tries to ask innocently, but he has never been able to face down Kat's feline scrutiny without breaking into tears.
"What are you up to? Approximately every one to two minutes one of you will make some noise, then the other will. What's going on?" Kat folds her arms and looks at the two adolescents sternly. "Now!"
"Bridge and I are studying your ears!" Boom bursts under the pressure.
"My ears?" Kat frowns, feeling angry at the thought of being a test subject. Of course, her ears face more forward, looking angry in their own right.
"Not just yours, but both your guys' ears. I think yours are cooler 'cause they just are, but Bridge thinks Commander Cruger's are cooler because they're straight up, like Batman's." When Boom is done explaining Cruger's eyes are on him too. "Sir?"
"Who is Batman?" Cruger asks in his blatant ignorance of pop culture.
"Never mind, Doggie—you guys are watching our ears?" Kat's outward irritation increases and her ears betray this. "You realize we're your bosses?!"
The mad movement of Kat's ears in her state of unrest is amusing, if a little frightening. Although Cruger's are still straight, they move ever so slightly at Kat as she hisses through her teeth in impatience. When she snaps at them again his blue ears flatten a little in reaction.
"I'm sorry, Kat, we just think they're really cool!" Boom jumps up and goes straight over to Kat. Carefully, he reaches out to touch the velvety tips, tweaking them between his fingers as he pleases. He moves them up and down, like marionettes. "I mean they're so fun!"
Kat swats him away angrily, offended at the liberties taken with her ears. They flick twice in aggravation. "Don't ever touch my ears again if you want to live to see New Year's."
"Yes, ma'am," Boom answers sheepishly.
"Whereas I say that DC's ears are just awesome!" Bridge comes over but only looks at Cruger for a second before deciding actually touching his ears is a (very) bad idea. "They're blue and pretty sharp looking."
"Enough, both of you, out," Kat commands, pointing them out the lab door. When they've gone she growls lightly. Her ears press down against her hair. "Those boys... "
"Well," Cruger begins with one ear up and one towards Kat, "your ears are pretty cute."
Kat looks up at him with a sheepish smile, blushing slightly. "Actually, I always found it kind of funny how your ears always seem to be still. I know Sirian ears are always upright but yours are so...stationary."
"Stationary?" Cruger asks.
"Yeah, they almost never move." Kat moves closer to him, standing while he sits on a stool. This gives her the ideal height to reach out ant touch its edge. Cruger doesn't flinch, or even blink, though the ear stretches into her touch. As she begins stroking its base it moves into the petting further. "There it is!"
Kat begins scratching the back of the ear's base, gently but firmly, manicured claws running over the tiny scales in rhythm. "How's that?"
"Mmmmm," Cruger hums in acquiescence. Slowly, his arms unfold and he smiles widely. "Oh, Kat," his leg starts to bounce on the stool's rim.
Kat smirks as she continues scratching. He really is a stubborn old dog; he hasn't let her scratch his ears in years. It's nice to see him enjoying it now, though, especially since she knows exactly how good it feels. She could make a 'good boy' joke but she won't. She just moves her other hand to scratch behind both his ears in alternating motions. "Good?"
"Ooohhhhooohhhhhhohhhhh," Cruger's leg bounces more and if he had a tail, it would be wagging surely. His tongue hangs out his muzzle just a little (quite cutely, in Kat's opinion) and his eyes are shut in pure bliss. "Katherine...those fingers of yours... "
Kat smirks at her job well done.
"Remind me to let you do this more often," he grunts out. "So I can do it for you too."
"Mm," Kat hums, still enjoying scratching her old friend's ears.
In an hour, when Boom and Bridge return to apologize, they find Cruger, massaging Kat's neck with his fingers and scratching behind her ears with his thumbs(?). Kat is purring louder than Boom has ever heard, and Cruger is also smiling pleasantly, just for the sake of smiling. She leans into his touch and he moves his paws to her shoulders and back. His clawed paws travel lower and lower on her back until he scratches directly above where her hypothetical tail would be. Kat arches so much from the action she lifts herself almost off the chair. Her purring escalates into moans of pleasure: "Oooooh, Doggie... "
Boom is horrified, torn between protectively demanding Cruger unhand his mentor and bolting as fast as he can. Bridge looks more befuddled than anything. Both slowly back up towards the door again.
"Oooooh, yeeeaaahhh, Dooogggiieee," Kat moans. As his claws finish their work she lets out a satisfied 'mreow' and sinks back into the chair, knees weak. "You are good, y'know that?"
"So I'm told," Cruger chuckles into her hair, laying a kiss behind her ears and smelling her shampoo of honeycomb mix with her perfume of lilies. Then, he notices the door. Boom and Bridge are attempting to back out of it. "What?"
"Nothing, sir," Bridge chuckles before running out.
Boom looks at Kat with worry. "What did you...do?" he asks with slight disgust.
"I gave her a back rub," says Cruger.
"Well, next time make it...quieter."