savetheearth | Unexpected Roommate

Characters: Mia (

betterlogoutand)
Date: July 21st, afternoon
Location: Haseo's bedroom
Status: Closed
Summary: Mia's very recently regained her sentience; she decides to stick with the one who triggered said Echo. No matter what he has to say on the matter, most likely.

Though Haseo wouldn't have noticed anything out of the ordinary before with the cat he randomly decided to indulge and play with, he started something remarkable. In receiving such a gift, Mia found herself experiencing many new things, and thinking about the piece of grass. Why did it make her feel sad? Why did she feel so... strangely happy, with it? What were these new emotions, and how was she suddenly so dramatically aware of them?

It all simply lead to Mia holding a new resolve (heh, that's new, too, but it feels familiar and right). She followed Haseo around for a short while, finding out where he lived. And when he was out for the day, during his usual routine that Mia had come to predict, she found her way into his bedroom through a lot of climbing and clever determination.

Haseo would return to find the cat sitting on his computer chair, looking all too pleased with herself as she played with the fuzzy grass head with her paw.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It had been a fairly normal day for Ryou, all things considered. With school out, he had a surplus of free time to himself and very little to do with it. He'd mostly just been wandering around town, maybe keeping an eye out for the so-called mutant animals everyone on the "network" kept talking about. But, of course, he never saw anything like that, and so with a weary mumble of guess I'll go home and check my e-mail Ryou abandoned the search.

The door to his room opened with a creak, and the first thing he noticed was that he left the window open and the screen got knocked out. Huh, weird.

The cat was the second most obvious thing. He stared at it for a long moment.

"... It's that cat," he muttered to himself, A+ observational skills at work. But no, really, what the hell was that cat doing here?

"Did it follow me or something...?"

Cautiously (hey, it could still be a freaky mutant cat for all he knows), he closed the door behind him, eyes never leaving the cat playing on his chair.

Mia locked eyes with Haseo, seemingly grinning. A far stretch from before, when before she had very cat-like expressions instead of a clear mimicry of a human smile. Of course, what followed was likely the more startling thing.

"I've been waiting for you."

The cat stared back, and he swore it was grinning at him—

And then it spoke and he made a choked yelping sound oh my god talking cats.

This would probably be a lot less shocking if Haseo actually met any of the other talking cats/ponies/assorted animals on the network, but whoops. This is what he gets for not lurking more.

He finally regained his senses, trying (probably failing) to look less surprised. Yes, of course, talking cats. He totally knew to expect talking cats. He put on his best scowl to show how intimidating he was to the weird talking cat.

"W-what the hell do you mean, you've been waiting for me? Did you break into my room? What the hell do you want?!" Ryou was at least 80% sure Mia was a mutant cat assassin sent by the aliens for knowing too much but she'd never take him alive.

Unless he was about to pick something up and move as if to throw it at her, she remained unflappable, staring him dead in the face without an ounce of fear.

"You were the one who reminded me," she explained. "How to speak, and how to think. So thank you."

Well, he might have been eyeing a stack of books...

...but it's a strange answer, even for a cat. He was starting to reconsider the catssassin theory. Mutant assassins don't generally thank their victims, right? He folded his arms, leaning back against the door as he thought it over.

"Reminded you...?" Ryou repeated the words, as if that might explain their meaning. "I don't remember doing anything like that. You're just a cat I feed sometimes."

And pet, and play with, as long as no one's watching.

"You gave me this wonderful gift," she said, 'picking up' the foxtail grass in between her toes and holding it up. Though she had looked quite sly before, she sounded very touched and it wasn't at all subtle in her tone. "I don't know why, but it's very special. For some reason, it makes my chest feel heavy."

"It's just a piece of grass. I didn't think it was anything special..." He gave an awkward shrug, not really sure how to respond to such a genuine expression of gratitude. He didn't really think anything of it at the time, honestly. "You're welcome, I guess?"

After a moment he sighed, rubbing the side of his face. "God, I'm talking to a cat," he muttered. "First the numbers, now this..."

"You'll get used to it, with time. I'm sure we'll be talking every day," Mia said smugly, hopping onto the desk. She looks right at Haseo, boldly proclaiming, "I'll be staying here from now on."

"Hah, yeah, maybe..." He trailed off, still thinking about dumb numbers and how weird this all was. At least he was sure now that she (probably) wasn't evil. He needed another second or two before what she said actually clicked.

"—hey, wait a second, who said you could stay here?"

"I did. It's been very lonely, on the streets. I'm going to be with you from now on, so I will live here," she said, all very matter-of-factly.

"Don't I get any say in this?" he grumbled, moving his hands to his hips... and realizing that it was kind of assholish to say that right after 'it's been very lonely, on the streets'.

"I mean, don't get me wrong here, it's not because I don't like you or anything," Ryou backpedaled, "but my mom would probably kill me if she found out I brought a cat home, so this isn't going to work. You understand that, right?"

"You didn't bring me home, I decided to come here myself," Mia huffed, as if offended at Ryou for thinking that he made the decision at all. Her tail swished, and she tilted her head thoughtfully.

"So your mother is the only obstacle? That shouldn't be too difficult."

Ryou sighed. "No one's going to believe that, and it's still the same problem... and what the hell do you mean, that shouldn't be too difficult? You're not doing weird things to my mom!"

He pulled out the chair she'd been sitting on earlier, turning it around so he could sit down and face her. He gave this problem a very long and thoughtful pause.

"... Well, I can't exactly tell you to get lost, either. Maybe this has something to do with those echo things," he mumbled, partly to himself and partly to her. He tried to remember what he'd read on the network—wasn't there something about animals in the guide? Animal members?

"Do you know anything about a string of numbers?"

"I do. It was one of the first things that I remembered," she replied. "...Besides. If I can get on your mother's good side," by being adorable and friendly, she guesses, "then she'll think it was her idea to keep me around."

Unexpected Roommate

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this is so absurdly late i am ashamed

I'm so happy aaa