week 0, saturday

[vigilantics]

[ a little after the trial ends, stephanie will go to track belph down again. if she doesn't run into him she figures she can try again the next day, at least.

when she does spot him, she waves. ]

That sure was a thing.

Comments

[vigilantics]

You pay a lot of attention to my partner.

[axilium]

He's fun.

[to rile up.

also he wants to make sure he'll look after steph but he's not going to say that out loud.]

[vigilantics]

[ wow, ]

He is. I'll organize a play date for you guys.

[axilium]

Careful, we don't want to scare him away.

[vigilantics]

[ she rolls her eyes. ]

What is he, a cat?

[axilium]

He's your partner. You tell me.

[vigilantics]

Hm... yes?

So are you, actually.

[axilium]

I suppose now is a good time to admit that I've never actually seen a cat in person.

[vigilantics]

Oh my god. They're not like... extinct or anything, where you're from, are they?

[ she sounds alarmed???? ]

[axilium]

I regret adding to your horror, but animals as a whole aren't too common anymore.

[vigilantics]

... am I allowed to ask?

[ asking if she is allowed to ask is still, basically, asking. ]

[axilium]

Sure, it hasn't been a secret around here. Basically, humanity screwed up, contaminated the entire surface of the earth with radiation, and had to flee underground.

[vigilantics]

[ UH ]

How long has it been like that?

[axilium]

... A while? The underground part is kind of recent, though. My old man was responsible for building the first city, back before I was born.

[which isn't someone he'd normally admit easily, but not much of a point in being secretive about it here. heck, his profile already spells out something he'd rather keep secret.]

[vigilantics]

[ she tries to imagine what that's like. her earth is in danger of getting destroyed fairly often, but they have yet to do something like this.

never seen a cat, huh. ]

Wow. That's pretty impressive.

[axilium]

[advice he can give steph: if a corporation develops an apparently perfect and environmentally friendly renewable energy source, thus saving earth from its problem of resource depletion, check to make sure that it's actually environmentally friendly and doesn't produce MASS RADIATION.

belph hates his family so much.]

Yeah, I guess.

[... that's it. that's all he has to say on that.]

[vigilantics]

[ she brings her hands to the top of her head, trying to mimic cat ears. ]

Belph, I'm going to introduce you to a cat.

[axilium]

[a beat.]

Steph, I apologize deeply for having to shatter your illusions, but you're a human.

[vigilantics]

There's a cat wandering around here somewhere.

[axilium]

Is there? Why?

[vigilantics]

No idea. None of the tapestries mention a cat.

[ it is truly a mystery. ]

[axilium]

So we just randomly have a cat wandering around?

[vigilantics]

Yup! And we, my good pal, are going to find it at some point so you can cross "cat" off your bucket list.

[axilium]

I... guess I'll look forward to it?

[vigilantics]

If at least one good thing comes out of this hell hole, it'll be that you get to pet a kitty.