first trauma [video]

[unpleasantries]

[Satori flips on the phone and angles the camera so her third eye is hidden from view. However, the yellow tendril attached to the side of her head is clearly visible. Also visible is the pet store behind her.

Without bothering to introduce herself (WHAT ARE SOCIAL SKILLS), she asks in a flat tone:]

Are pets allowed at the hotel?

Comments

[Video]

[mokomanjuu]

Uh-huh! One of Mokona's friends lives with a cat, and another friend lives with an octopus.

[Video]

[unpleasantries]

...

[Seeing Mokona renders Satori silent for a moment, only partially because she think the little meatbun thing is cute. The other reason is, of course, that animals don't usually talk. That's why the animals in the pet store behind her are so miserable, right? Because nobody can understand them?]

...An octopus.

[Not an impressive reply by any means, but it's the first thing that she thinks of.]

[mokomanjuu]

Uh-huh.

His name is Montfort.

[unpleasantries]

Montfort the octopus...

[Absently, to herself:]

I wonder what octopi think about.

[mokomanjuu]

Mostly, he wonders what Mokona is.

...When Mokona's not there, he probably thinks about other things more.

[faithful_kitsune]

*There's a fox watching the window. A nine-tailed fox, to be precise. It seems to be paying particularly close attention to the cats.*

[unpleasantries]

[Oh, wow. It's beautiful.

...That's the first thought that runs through Satori's head. She wonders if perhaps they sell foxes like this one here...she does notice it's watching the cats, and says, more to herself than anyone else:]

I hope you're not thinking about eating those.

[Her first instinct is to check to see if it is thinking of eating the cats, but as she's still not used to controlling her third eye, she winds up following the thoughts of a passing lawyer instead.]

[faithful_kitsune]

*The fox looks at her with something approximating raising an eyebrow. What do you take her for, seriously?*

[unpleasantries]

Well, I don't know what else I was supposed to think. It'd look like that to anyone.

[At this point Satori realizes she is talking back to a fox, and feels a little ridiculous. But that expression it gave her couldn't have been anything but a proper response...]

[faithful_kitsune]

*It seems to shrug a bit, then turns to her. She doesn't have the smell of a human, at least, if the odd eye wasn't a giveaway. The fox tilts its head.*

[wontdieifkilled]

Pets? I don't know. I've never thought about owning one.

[unpleasantries]

I don't care about what you did or didn't think. I just want to know if they're allowed in the hotel.

[wontdieifkilled]

Well, I just said I don't know. But I do know how to find out.

[unpleasantries]

You could've just told me how to find out in the time it took you to say that.

[wontdieifkilled]

But you didn't ask how.

[video]

[canthandleacape]

Well, they let Mokona in. That, or she's a master of stealth, which isn't entirely out of the question, now that I think about it.

[video]

[unpleasantries]

Unless you tell me what a Mokona is, that's not a very helpful answer.

[video]

[canthandleacape]

Little puffball with rabbit ears, you can't miss her.

[video]

[unpleasantries]

...And how is that any different from what we normally call a rabbit?

[For emphasis, she turns the camera on the phone so it's facing a rabbit.

A puffball with rabbit ears, if you will.]

[video]

[canthandleacape]

Well, she talks, is the big one. Less on the puff and more on the ball, too. Like a grapefruit with fur.

[red_dwarf]

Yeah, I've seen a bunch of people with pets. The guy I used to love with had a massive dog, so if he was okay, I'd say you're in the clear.

[unpleasantries]

Oh, good...what I'm looking at is -

[She cuts herself off suddenly, deciding what she was about to say wasn't so important after all.]

Never mind. Thank you.

[red_dwarf]

Hmm?

Hey, no problem. Need help picking out a pet?

[unpleasantries]

No, I've already found one.

[Satori looks vaguely uncomfortable. As she is rapidly discovering, she's pretty bad at small talk.

Instead of extrapolating on her answer, she heads into the pet store and adjusts the phone so its camera is facing the bird she's picked out. It's a finch alone in a cage.

She doesn't say anything, but she's fairly certain this is answer enough.]

[red_dwarf]

Nice! He's cute. Looks like he could use a friend, too.