crux_fleet | Exercise in mewtility [Open]

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Exercise in mewtility [Open]

A petite young woman in a white summer dress was slowly making her way through one of the grassier areas of Sky Park. She held a pink leash in one hand, which trailed along behind her and ended clipped to the harness of a calico cat.

Unfortunately, the cat was not cooperating. In fact, her contribution to the effort mostly consisted of flopping dramatically onto her side, clearly asserting that if it was the woman's intention to take this cat on a walk, she had better be prepared to drag around ten or so pounds of furry dead weight. Because it was not going to lift a paw to help.

"Come on, Sigourney," she cooed at it, trying to coax it to cooperate. "You need some exercise!" The cat looked at her with baleful eyes.

Though it was a bit difficult to pick out through the blades of grass, there was also some sort of tendril attached to the young woman herself, which snaked out some length across the ground to some unknown terminus.

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"Something wrong with your cat, miss?"

Asks Jim, looking a bit worried, stance suggesting he's rather bemused by the lazy feline and the young woman who has seen fit to "walk" it.

Tsumugi turned, her brow creased in consternation. "I suppose she could be tired out... but she was just fine before we left."

She reached down to pick the cat up around its midsection; it let its legs dangle limply to the ground. "I know you can do it! This is what happens when you eat too many snacks!"

She placed its paws back on the ground to see if the cat would stand. It flopped over in a boneless heap.

"Uhh, I'm more of a dog guy generally, but don't cats just not like leashes as a rule? I've never seen one wear one before. That... might be part of the problem, now that I think about it."

He looks at the cat and scratches his head, looking a bit like a dog himself at that moment as he ruminates over how to make a cat do what the owner wants.

Tsumugi put a hand to her chin. "Hmm, that's strange. Izana-san told me that it's good to take cats out for walks. And I don't want to just let her run around without a leash in case she gets lost..."

The cat rolled onto its side and stared at Tsumugi, as if psychically willing her to take off the harness.

"If you keep the omnicorder with you she probably can't get too far without you detecting she's gone, just make sure she's coded into it."

He smiles broadly at Tsumugi and offers his own slate-like omnicorder, saying,

"I'll show you how, if you like."

Tsumugi looked at the omnicorder. "Well, it's not really detection I'm worried about, but I guess it couldn't hurt to give it a try."

The cat yawned widely, showing rows of sharp predator's teeth.

"What are you worried about then? I'm here to help, generally speaking."

He looks at the cat and stifles a sneeze. Oh right. Allergies.

"I'm worried about her getting lost, of course," said Tsumugi patiently, folding her hands in front of her but still not letting go of the leash. "This ship is a very large place."

She blinked in surprise as he sneezed. "Ah, someone must be talking about you."

"Well... wouldn't a... huh, you think she'd get into trouble?"

He sneezes again, and shakes his head, giving the cat some distance. "I forgot, since I rarely run into them, but I have an allergy to cats."

"Maybe. If she ran away, I'd have to pay ramen to get her back..." Tsumugi picked up Sigourney and moved away a short distance. The cat seemed to like being held -- or at least not mind it, compared to walking on-leash.

"Um... is this a little better?"

"Yeah, thanks, that's a lot better." He smiles again, considering Tsumugi's words.

"Pay Ramen? What do you mean by that?"

"Someone offered to go look for her for me if she ever got lost. That's what they asked for as payment."

Sigourney grabbed at one of Tsumugi's hands with her paws; she sighed and reached down to pet the cat. "Well, kitty, we'll just have to take this in little steps..."

"Good deal." He smiles at the cat and her owner.

"You... uh, new on board or something?"

Tsumugi bowed politely. "Yes. My name is Tsumugi. I've been here for a number of weeks, but the fleet has been good enough to take care of me."

Now deprived of pets, Sigourney meowed at her until her owner continued.

"I thought you were like... really big though. And stuff."

He adds, rather lamely.

Wow, awkward.

"I thought I would practice looking more human for a bit. I don't want to startle anyone..." Now the cat she was hugging to herself seemed more like a shield.

Grim shifts his feet, looking down at them. "Well, it worked. And you wouldn't have startled us anyway. There's a lot more than just humans here, and the only people we're even a little bit off put by are the talking robots. Uh... we've got historical Beef with AI. Someone like you doesn't even register as worrisome."

He looks up, smiling a little.

"Different isn't bad, nor should it be."

While Tsumugi appreciated that this man was trying to reassure her, the fact was that his words rang patently false. She had surprised people, some of whom had been polite enough to underplay their reaction and move on, and some of whom had been outright rude (though mostly out of callousness rather than maliciousness, as far as she could tell).

To say that she didn't even register as worrisome was... well, beyond belief, for one thing. A little sting to her pride, for another. Did he mean to say that she was incapable? Insignificant? True, Kanata was the more powerful Chimera in terms of firepower, but even the people of the Cydonia had recognized that she was a valuable asset!

And, and...! What did this man know about being different?

She chose her words carefully and politely, the way Father had taught her. "I appreciate the sentiment, sir, but I know how I can appear to people."

"You look like A larger, more imposing-looking Jool?" Jim asks, honestly curious. He's grown up with Dorfs, Froshes, and most importantly Jools and so to him, someone with mutable forms is... not that unusual. Tsumugi's size is the odd point to him.

"Trust me as long as you're not a rogue AI or a space lizard we're pretty accepting. We have to be."

"...You're not very good at talking to girls, are you, sir?" As if in agreement (or perhaps simply hunger), Sigourney punctuated this last with a meow.

"No, I'm kinda crap at it. How'd you guess?"

Tsumugi couldn't tell if this was a sarcastic answer or not. She took a step back. "Umm... you say a lot of things that sound kind of mean."

"Hmm. I am sorry for that. I'm trying to be reassuring. I only really deal with students."

He looks at Tsumugi for a moment, clearly trying to judge how to appropriately apologize. "What I'm trying to say is... well, at least amongst the fleet-natives here, we tend to be more on the end of accepting. We've grown up with a lot of stuff people from old earth haven't, including several other races. Also, on a fleet-wide level we owe you all for accidentally bringing you here. Any resentment on our part would be beyond ignoble."

Jinto has a furry little friend too. But being born part of the Abriel family's cat herd and spending his entire life in space has made Diaho lazy and easygoing rather than willful like Tsumugi's cat. So when he was brought out to Sky Park, he only halfheartedly pursued insects before turning back to Jinto and mewing for a meal that didn't move around.

But another cat, now that was something that demanded investigating. He trotted up to Sigourney, chirping a greeting.

Sigourney completely ignored him.

Tsumugi noticed the other cat, but since he had a collar, he was obviously not a stray. "Hello there," she said, waving a little before turning her attention back to Sigourney.

She reached into her dress and took out a small wrapper. Sigourney's ears pricked up, swiveling toward the sound.

Diaho also reacted, trotting towards the sound (something being unwrapped! it must mean a treat for him!) and getting generally up in the girl's grill. Jinto got up and scooped him up, to which he reacted with an undignified squawk and a little squirming.

"That's not for you, Diaho. Sorry about that."

"It's all right," said Tsumugi, giving the stranger a polite bow. She crinkled the wrapper in front of Sigourney. Suddenly alert, the cat got up and took a step or two toward her.

"That's it, keep going. Come here, kitty!"

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Exercise in mewtility [Open]

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