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[soft_focus]

Umnnnnnhhh....

...What kinds of names do you give birds?

I have....a small one, that's a sparrow...and.... [There is a brief pause.] ...Now I have a really big one, that they called a 'Scarlet Eagle'.

The sparrow likes to sit in my hair, but the eagle can't sit on me, unless I'm laying down. She's too heavy.

People keep asking me what their names are though, and I've never named something before....

Comments

[soft_focus]

Yeah but when someone says it isn't, that means they thought someone would think so! [There's logic in her words Yuuya!!]

...So why would I think it was like a cat? Is it because of Peacat? ...Peacat's not the same as a cat, but they aren't the same as a bird either.... ...They're just Peacat.

[hippocarnival]

No, it's just--[Reira probably doesn't even have the frame of reference for this to make sense, does she?]

Nevermind. [What's done is done, and she'll do what she wants anyway. It won't stop him from worrying, though.] Just don't forget to take it seriously, okay? Actually owning a pet's a big deal, they depend on you.

[soft_focus]

....I still don't know why I wouldn't take it seriously... [She absolutely lacks the frame of reference, sadly.] ....it's different from looking after the animals in the menagerie, but there's a lot of things that are the same... ...if we didn't help feed and clean everything there, they'd get sick and hurt, so it's like that, right? And if you don't play with them in the right way, then they can't be happy, or learn things.

[hippocarnival]

You've never had a pet before, right? [It's a rhetorical question, he knows she hasn't.] Yeah, a lot of the stuff you do is the same, but it's even more work when you're responsible for them yourself. And they're going to be annoying or messy sometimes, but you still have to take care of it!

[soft_focus]

Mnh, right. I've only looked after the animals in the menagerie.

stop poking my hair- [A small mutter can be heard, before she's back to it.]

...She's already both of those things, but she's really smart too, so I think it'll be harder to make sure she doesn't open all the doors right now.

....She likes foods that aren't meat too, and that's bad. So I'm getting better locks now.

[There is a pause.] ....Did I give you too much work with 'snufflewomp'...? [What'd you name that guy anyway-]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya continues to have no confidence in Reira's ability to handle this eagle, but... at least Yuzu is there to keep an eye on things. He trusts Yuzu.]

Huh--n-no, it's not that! An eagle's definitely more work.

[He's almost certain an eagle is more work since snuffle just lives in a tank mostly, and it not big or smart enough to cause any trouble.] And besides, I have pets already. I have a lot more experience.

[soft_focus]

[Yuuya might want to consider giving her some heads up. That or double checking with the others in the menagerie...

Still.] ....Umnh.... ....what kinds though..? ...you seemed sort of worried when I gave you the snufflewomp....

[And did you really just name it snuffle, that's sort of cute-]

[hippocarnival]

I wasn't worried. [Obviously he'd want to make sure he knew how to take care of his new pet!]

Mom's always picking up strays that come around the house. We have three cats and three dogs now.

[Mama Sakaki might have a problem.] I help take care of them.

[soft_focus]

[Technically, that is Worry, Yuuya. It's just properly founded worry.] Mnh... ...I guess we haven't got a lot of dogs in the menagerie.... ...but there's lots of cats, I guess.

...You saw...most of them. ...I think the chain chomps were the closest to a dog though. They sound like dogs...

[Yuuya Probably was pretty great with Snat and Peacat, but...how on earth would he have fared with Bow-Wow the 'En'-sized chompball?]

[hippocarnival]

[Probably almost got bit.] No, but you've seen cats and dogs before, right? They're everywhere.

aaaand the warzone warnings are Going Up-

[soft_focus]

...Everywhere...in Maiami? ...Really!?

[On the one hand- think about where she seems to come from, environment wise, Yuuya.

...But on the other, maybe he shouldn't, for his own sake.] ...animals were just there..??

[hippocarnival]

[There were probably still strays and feral ones around, but probably best to not Think Too Hard about the state they were in...]

Well, yeah. [There's a pause, because part of this explanation isn't exactly happy but--] Some of them have always been wild, and some of them get lost or, uh. [Forgotten, abandoned.] So they wander around on their own until someone takes them in! Like my mom, or animal shelters.

[soft_focus]

Mnhh...but they're all...There?

[That's the thing about her strays-anything, even HUMAN let alone animal, is probably avoiding the shit out of...well. Most humans. The very sight of another animal would have been scarce enough, but adding in where her clearest memories lie, it might as well be as though no animals were there at all.]

[hippocarnival]

There? [He's not entirely sure what she means by that.] You mean out in the streets? Yeah, but you probably don't see them as often as birds or squirrels.

[In part because of animal control.]

[soft_focus]

....No just 'there'. Birds and squirrels too.

I didn't see those things except on cards, until I came here.

[hippocarnival]

[There's a pause while he tries to parse that, because it's not making any more sense the second time around.]

But they're all over Maiami! You can't miss them unless you... [Well, never go outside.

Which it's dawning on him, what he already knows about Miss Akaba now--did she just keep Reira locked in except when dueling?]

[soft_focus]

...I didn't come from Maiami though...

[She's not quite catching what Yuuya is realizing, but, well.] ...I wasn't there a long time either, so...

...I think I've been here a little longer, already. [Give or take a week or two, it's rather fuzzy just how much time actually passed once Himika got a hold of her after all.]

[hippocarnival]

When were you adopted? [He assumed at least a year or two, but she's spent longer at the carnival? That's only been three months, at best!]

[soft_focus]

...I don't know.

...It just feels like it's been longer here, somehow. ....I was wearing the same clothes, though? People keep saying here that you have to wear different clothes every day, but I didn't do that before...

...I just had the things from where I used to be.

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya is going to shake Reiji down for answers next time he sees him.]

I wasn't paying that much attention to your clothes. [Honestly they spent a month wearing the same shit while they crossed dimensions, and Yuya probably has five copies of the same shirt, so he definitely didn't think hard about it.] You came while we were in the Summerlands, so... I don't think it's even been three months yet.

[A pause.] Everything happens so quickly, so I guess it feels a lot longer.

[soft_focus]

Mnh....maybe....

I just know I wasn't there very long. I'm learning more things here too though, so...I guess that makes things different too.

[hippocarnival]

[Shake him down.

But if she herself doesn't even know how long she was with the Akabas, it's not like Yuya can find out right now. And Reira was actually asking about something before Yuya derailed it with a lecture (he's still not sure about this eagle).]

You know, mom named our pets in pairs since that's usually how she found them. Like 'En' and 'Core' for encore. You could do that too.

[soft_focus]

Pairs..?

...would that work now though? ....I got them at different times....and from really different people...

[hippocarnival]

Why not? You're naming them at the same time, aren't you? [Or close enough to it.]

[soft_focus]

I'm going to try..!

...Why did she use the word Encore, though?