Day 48: Sun Room [Second Shift]

[lawful_perfect]

Hmph. While this Rude was the proverbial "man of few words," von Karma found more potential use from him than a number of the other patients he had met put together. He would still ask Franziska about the man... as well as the other people he had learned that she had been spending time around. Many of them were utter fools, especially that Kibitoshin.

He ignored the nurse as she insisted that he stay indoors, lest he "catch his death of pneumonia." Already having planned to meet his daughter in the Sun Room, the prosecutor had no intention of spending the cold, gloomy morning in the Courtyard anyway.

It appeared that he was the first to arrive in the spacious room. Gray light from the overcast sky filtered in through the glass windows high above, making it somewhat more difficult for von Karma to peruse the notes on the bulletin board as he awaited Franziska's arrival.

The lines in his forehead furrowed as he saw Kibitoshin's note to her, asking her whether she was "feeling better." What made that blasted oaf think that it was any of his business how she was doing or to worry about her?! She had been raised to take care of herself, damn it! ...Did Franziska say or do something that would lead the clumsy idiot to think otherwise? This, among other things, von Karma would ask her.

After removing his daughter's response to his original note from the board -- and noting that Ms. Taura had yet to reply to his other note -- he sat down at a table in a remote corner of the room, claiming this space that would afford him and his daughter the most privacy.

Mew?

What was that noise? And what was that tugging sensation at the leg of his pants? He peered down in the direction from which the irritating sound had come and was greeted by a tiny orange kitten that had the mistaken notion that his leg was a climbing post. Infernal creature! One glance at his face, and the furry little nuisance was suddenly at the other end of the room, having cleared it within several skittish bounds. Good riddance!

[Waiting for his Dear Daughter]

Comments

[mukuchi.livejournal.com]

He seemed to be accustomed to petting animals, even if he didn't like them. Mori didn't mind people who didn't like animals. He didn't exactly understand them, but he didn't mind them at all. Not everyone appreciated having tanuki follow you through school or having chickens roosting in your hair. Then again, most normal people didn't have that sort of thing happening to them.

Mori reached out and ran his finger under the kitten's chin, smiling faintly as it purred before he pulled his hand back. Best to let Brainy enjoy his kitten. Besides, he could see two more of them coming out of the corner of his eye and he knew they were probably going to claw their way up his back soon enough. In preparation, Mori leaned forward just enough that the cats wouldn't have to dig their claws in very much. "What kind?"

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

"A monkey, actually," Brainiac 5 answered. "He was--" A lab animal. "It's complicated." He shook his head, smiling slightly as two more kittens wandered over and started attempting to climb the larger boy.

"Besides," he said, "it was a very long time ago. It's probably for the best not to think about it anymore." It wasn't a memory he particularly wanted to revisit in a hurry either. Instead he indicated the new arrivals with his free hand. "You seem to have something of a knack with them. Do you have a lot of experience working with animals?"

[mukuchi.livejournal.com]

A monkey? That was a bit unexpected. Not many people kept monkeys for pets unless they were for show, and Mori didn't think Brainy was the organ grinder on the sidewalk type. He was going to ask for clarification, but the way Brainy seemed to withdraw shut that down immediately. He didn't want to make the boy sad; not on their first meeting.

Thankfully, the arrival of the cats - both sensed by smell and then by the feeling of claws digging into his clothes - gave them a welcome distraction. Mori leaned forward a bit more and one of the cats, a little tiger tabby, made it onto his shoulder. The other eventually gave up and flopped over, crying by his knee. Mori picked it up and placed it in his lap, petting the tabby on his shoulder absently. "Wild type," he said in response to Brainy's question. The cats were purring and he almost felt like closing his eyes, but didn't. He needed to explain what he'd just said. "I like animals. They like me." He shrugged slightly. "Don't know why."

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

The distraction was definitely appreciated, especially considering the previous topic. Brainiac 5 nodded, watching the two new arrivals to their group and smiling faintly as his own kitten suddenly scrabbled upright and propelled itself in a series of energetic jumps to go and playfully attack the one in Mori's lap.

"That's interesting," he said, watching the scuffle just as much as the other patient. "An innate ability with animals like that. I know several others in my home dimension with strange gifts of their own as well." Though they were generally geared more towards property damage than a perchance to get along well with animals.

He frowned a little in thought. "I don't suppose it has any affect on the nocturnal animals?"